They say you never get a second chance at a first impression. Hopefully the impression I made on them was the same impression they made on me. I really like On Track. I'll try my best to give you all my impressions...
It's large. Probably not quite the same size as Establish, but pretty close. They got a ton of open floor space with the rig being off to one side. Several rowers, lots of bars, KB's... all the typical things you see in a box. They have 3 showers, 2 showers, laundry stuff, few other odds and ends. There is even another gym area where the more elite level guys/girls train. Competition level stuff. Can't wait to be in there myself.
Now we all know, a gym is nothing but a room full of tools without the people to use them. OT has all kinds of people. Felt like organized chaos tonight, people everywhere... figured it out later, that the beginners class straddles the 530 and 630 classes, so there can be a lot going on. Makes sense why I felt that way now. People all seem pretty cool... and I mean I didn't expect anything less, it's a CrossFit box, that seems to be growing... so yeah, good people are bound to be there right?
Enough (for now) about OT... it's 0116, and I need to get some beauty sleep, I have a feeling work will be calling on yet another day off. The beginners class tonight was taught by Brandon. Amanda told me he had a way with people, and I'd agree. He made the teaching seem quite a bit less like teaching, and just ...kind of follow the leader. *shrug* I don't know how to describe it. We went through the snatch progression. Lots of holding positions and what not... pain. LOL. I feel like every time I go through that, I get better... like a lot better. Things are already looking good.
Next thing we did was go over wallballs. We were doing a partner WOD...Karen. 150 wallballs... oh lawd! J.Peet, I'm sorry, this long off working out... my form was awful. AWFUL!! I'm getting deep enough, but my chest isn't high at all, I'm leaned forward... it sucked... the form and the workout. LOL. The whole time it was just bad. My quads... they hurt like they've rarely hurt... it was just bad. But we got done, Sarah and I got done in sub 8 minutes. I know thats probably not a great time, but at the same time, thats the first time I've done Karen, partner WOD or not.
I wish I'd worn my lifters tonight... sorry, still feeling the quads... maybe they would have helped? After all this, spent some time chatting up the coaches, got to know some people a little bit more, they got to know me a bit more. Tomorrow is a WOD called Candyland... picture a home made board with... idk, 70 spaces, mixed up between the girls, tabata workouts, gymnastics, etc. There is the upside of it being partner workouts, and of course the BYOB... if I can walk when I wake up, I might go. Maybe. Anyway, it's late, and frankly my thoughts aren't coming together... so I'll catch you later.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Back On Track (part 1/2)
HEY! Hope everyone had a great Christmas or other chosen holiday. It's all in good holiday cheer, don't be one of the chronically offended. Moving on...it's been a busy week +. Moved into our new house, have new house issues, work is calling me on my days off... busy. Onto the wonderful work of blogging about it.
Haven't eaten the best this past week... we're going to say past week, but really we're talking like 10 days, give or take. I also haven't eaten the worst. Christmas Day was the worst offender by far, creamy corn, potatoes, more potatoes, some cheesy spinach, more potatoes... but no soda. The only sugary drink I've had have been little 12oz bottles of G2 Gatorade. They say low calorie if that gets me any bonus points. Next week it's back on the road... maybe everything will magically fall back into place by then?
So I stopped by On Track this last Saturday... I'm just going to shorten them to OT.... stopped by between the classes (near as I could tell online) and there were a lot of people there. Felt a lot like the first time at Diamond State, or even Establish. Nervous, no idea whats waiting on the other side of the door... Turns out, much like the other boxes, there are people and tools on the other side of the door... go figure. Met a coach, Reggie I believe his name was, and he seemed like a good sort. Easy smile, friendly, I liked him immediately. We dug around, couldn't find the waiver forms and the owners/office managers Brian and Amanda weren't yet in, so I chatted with Reggie for a bit and was going to come back Sunday. Missed Sunday, emailed Amanda at some point, and we were going to meet up this week sometime... well, I made that this morning.
...and I just missed Brian. LOL. He'd just run a local spot to get his beverage of choice. Few minutes later he was back, and I got to chat with him a little bit. We didn't get to go over everything, he had a previous appointment I'd stolen him away from, and I had other places to be as well. We did agree on me coming back in tonight at 6pm for a beginners class, so that should explain the part 1/2 for most folks...and the back on track... going to Crossfit On Track... so I'm getting back on track... get it? No? ....
Anyway, I've got some nervous anticipation for tonight's beginner class. Brian thought it would be better if I went through that. I think part of it is a check to make sure I am who I say I am, and another part to just see me move around. It's probably a good idea all around, I'm not offended....and I don't think I should be. To be honest, it's been "a week", I could be pretty rusty. Something else to consider, I think they do a little bit more than a lot of other boxes when I look at their WODs online. I could use a few days to work back up to that load.
In the end I'm excited, I'm ready to get to work. See you on the other side.
Haven't eaten the best this past week... we're going to say past week, but really we're talking like 10 days, give or take. I also haven't eaten the worst. Christmas Day was the worst offender by far, creamy corn, potatoes, more potatoes, some cheesy spinach, more potatoes... but no soda. The only sugary drink I've had have been little 12oz bottles of G2 Gatorade. They say low calorie if that gets me any bonus points. Next week it's back on the road... maybe everything will magically fall back into place by then?
So I stopped by On Track this last Saturday... I'm just going to shorten them to OT.... stopped by between the classes (near as I could tell online) and there were a lot of people there. Felt a lot like the first time at Diamond State, or even Establish. Nervous, no idea whats waiting on the other side of the door... Turns out, much like the other boxes, there are people and tools on the other side of the door... go figure. Met a coach, Reggie I believe his name was, and he seemed like a good sort. Easy smile, friendly, I liked him immediately. We dug around, couldn't find the waiver forms and the owners/office managers Brian and Amanda weren't yet in, so I chatted with Reggie for a bit and was going to come back Sunday. Missed Sunday, emailed Amanda at some point, and we were going to meet up this week sometime... well, I made that this morning.
...and I just missed Brian. LOL. He'd just run a local spot to get his beverage of choice. Few minutes later he was back, and I got to chat with him a little bit. We didn't get to go over everything, he had a previous appointment I'd stolen him away from, and I had other places to be as well. We did agree on me coming back in tonight at 6pm for a beginners class, so that should explain the part 1/2 for most folks...and the back on track... going to Crossfit On Track... so I'm getting back on track... get it? No? ....
Anyway, I've got some nervous anticipation for tonight's beginner class. Brian thought it would be better if I went through that. I think part of it is a check to make sure I am who I say I am, and another part to just see me move around. It's probably a good idea all around, I'm not offended....and I don't think I should be. To be honest, it's been "a week", I could be pretty rusty. Something else to consider, I think they do a little bit more than a lot of other boxes when I look at their WODs online. I could use a few days to work back up to that load.
In the end I'm excited, I'm ready to get to work. See you on the other side.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Well poo...
Oh lawd! Another long day at work today, but it was only 12 hours, instead of 14 hours like yesterday. I'm a wee bit tired, but, I DID get to Unlocked. I was late, and I really hate being late. Good news for me was everyone was till warming up. Well, they were just finishing up the stretching, and then they were starting their warmup movements? I don't know what to call them, but it was the stuff past dynamic stretching.
Yeah, so I started doing the dynamic stretching, and would do some of the warmups, but it was a lot of work, I was already pooped, and getting everything warm seemed like a better idea at the time. My knees are a bit achy this morning, so I can tell you now that I didn't do enough... need to work on that. Still think the Oly stretch on the wall is my best warmup for squatting, but that doesn't really do that much for the knees... does it?
So I get started, we've got a lot of lifting to do today. I'm ready, I'm excited, I want to work out some of my work issues with the bar and weights. It's a demanding workout.
2x3 squat clean at 85%
2x6 squat clean at 70%
2x9 squat clean at something else...
2x12 power clean 55%
2x 15 power clean 45%?
And there was more stuff than that, this was just the strength/skill part. I can't really tell you about it, because I didn't get there. I warmed up to my 85%, and was ready to get started. Got 1, then 2, then on the third clean, I paused at the bottom. Now, a pause at the bottom isn't weird or necessarily strange, but this time was different. You see, my stomach was playing the part of Judas tonight, and now there was some uncertainty in my bowel continence... in other words, I had stomach problems.
So I'm sitting here, at the bottom of a squat, with the bar in the front rack positions... and I've got choices to make. Really, it's what choices to make, but what muscles to engage first to that I don't have any problems while getting up. It didn't really occur to me to just drop the bar, I had to get up... And I did. And then I went to the bathroom for a while. I came back out, tried it again, and made it to the set of 2x6, and had it again. So I called it short. Crappy workout, pun intended.
Hope to get back to Unlocked tonight, try again.
Yeah, so I started doing the dynamic stretching, and would do some of the warmups, but it was a lot of work, I was already pooped, and getting everything warm seemed like a better idea at the time. My knees are a bit achy this morning, so I can tell you now that I didn't do enough... need to work on that. Still think the Oly stretch on the wall is my best warmup for squatting, but that doesn't really do that much for the knees... does it?
So I get started, we've got a lot of lifting to do today. I'm ready, I'm excited, I want to work out some of my work issues with the bar and weights. It's a demanding workout.
2x3 squat clean at 85%
2x6 squat clean at 70%
2x9 squat clean at something else...
2x12 power clean 55%
2x 15 power clean 45%?
And there was more stuff than that, this was just the strength/skill part. I can't really tell you about it, because I didn't get there. I warmed up to my 85%, and was ready to get started. Got 1, then 2, then on the third clean, I paused at the bottom. Now, a pause at the bottom isn't weird or necessarily strange, but this time was different. You see, my stomach was playing the part of Judas tonight, and now there was some uncertainty in my bowel continence... in other words, I had stomach problems.
So I'm sitting here, at the bottom of a squat, with the bar in the front rack positions... and I've got choices to make. Really, it's what choices to make, but what muscles to engage first to that I don't have any problems while getting up. It didn't really occur to me to just drop the bar, I had to get up... And I did. And then I went to the bathroom for a while. I came back out, tried it again, and made it to the set of 2x6, and had it again. So I called it short. Crappy workout, pun intended.
Hope to get back to Unlocked tonight, try again.
Monday, December 15, 2014
The coast is socked in with rain and fog, no WOD tonight.
Pulling a little Band of Brothers reference for those of you that may have seen it. I can't say I wont WOD tonight for sure, but I've got some serious concerns that I wont be. This weekend was filled with plenty of work. I packed up most of the house, and got it moved to the garage.... lots of sweat and lol's were had. Sore back for the rest of the night too.
Flew out to DE last night, got to the hotel after 10. Normally not a bad time to get to the hotel at all...unless you need to be up before 5. Even better, my body woke me up at 0400... so yeah, it was something like 4 hours of sleep. It's been a loooong day already. Work is really messing up my fitness vibe man.
Just to complain a little more, probably not going to get to WOD a whole lot this week... Going live with several solutions at work, probably a lot of 14 hour days... bit of a sad panda. After a week of this, going home just in time to move. I think after moving, I'm going to sleep all day Sunday. Apologies to you, my thoughts are very random and all over right now. I'm already at something like 800mg of caffeine right now... and I'm pretty sure thats not all that good for me. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I might not get a chance to WOD tonight, but I AM going to get me some paleo food. Which is good, makes up for the donuts and the other junk I've been ingesting to try to stay awake...
Sigh.
I really can't have another long week of no WODs. Going to have to find a way... so I may not WOD tonight, but I'm going to try and get a few in this week. I need to get a few in this week.
Flew out to DE last night, got to the hotel after 10. Normally not a bad time to get to the hotel at all...unless you need to be up before 5. Even better, my body woke me up at 0400... so yeah, it was something like 4 hours of sleep. It's been a loooong day already. Work is really messing up my fitness vibe man.
Just to complain a little more, probably not going to get to WOD a whole lot this week... Going live with several solutions at work, probably a lot of 14 hour days... bit of a sad panda. After a week of this, going home just in time to move. I think after moving, I'm going to sleep all day Sunday. Apologies to you, my thoughts are very random and all over right now. I'm already at something like 800mg of caffeine right now... and I'm pretty sure thats not all that good for me. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I might not get a chance to WOD tonight, but I AM going to get me some paleo food. Which is good, makes up for the donuts and the other junk I've been ingesting to try to stay awake...
Sigh.
I really can't have another long week of no WODs. Going to have to find a way... so I may not WOD tonight, but I'm going to try and get a few in this week. I need to get a few in this week.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
EMOMs and AMRAPS
So I'm driving to the box tonight, feeling alright. Battling that sleepy feeling most people get between 2 and 5pm... and I'm pretty close...then it happens. Felt like I took a shot from a pro boxer on the right side of my stomach. I did not feel good... I got to the box feeling like I was losing @ life. Told Jeff bout that feeling... and that I was going to go through warmups, see where that left me.
Made it through the pain, and the warmup... I actually punked out of the warmup. It looked like running, so, being in my lifters, I was like I'll be over here.... rowing. Dave had them do a life sized version of the game hungry hippos.... it doesn't scale quite like you'd think. :) It was 4 corners, teams of 2. Bear crawl to the middle of the room, grab a wall ball, then, with the wallball on your stomach and crab walk back. Looked fun, but I was doing just fun on my rower. By the time they were done...or the time I stopped, I had a 1k done in 4:30. Not terribly fast, but I wasn't really pushing with the spectacle I was watching before me.
Pain is gone, it's go time. The strength/skill part was an 8 minute EMOM of 4 barbell lunges and 10 bar jump overs. Every minute. My lunges are bad... I don't get all the way down on one knee... not even close. My squats are slowly getting heavier... but even with that, I'm still a lot of dude to pick up with one leg, add a barbell of weights....I did try. Quads were on instant fire. The the jump overs... not even close to two footed. I'm in my lifters, and I'm trying... by the end of the EMOM, I want to just fall over and cry...but my flatfooted feet hurt more than than anything else. So I settled for taking off my lifters and getting ready for the METCON... 17 minute AMRAP. Goody!
Simple AMRAP today. 3 power snatches, 6 chest 2 bar pullups, 9 pushups. Every 2 minutes, you stop and work 3 front squats. Knowing all this, I went with a 95lb bar. I might have been able to do RX at 135, but thats over my known 1RM for a snatch of any kind, and the last thing I want to do is destroy my shoulders in a bad way.
This was a bad workout for me. I didn't do particularly well in my mind, and it wore me out. I feel like I rested a lot, even with the scaling options... I mean the girly pushups I'm doing... arms still hurt as I type this. It was a lot of pushups, with me trying to do them with as little "butt in the air" moves as I could (as in hold that plank down and up). The front squats messed me up pretty good. The 5th one was it for my wrists, I was done. Told Jeff that my wrist were shot, he make that shut it down gesture... idk how to explain it... hold out your arm with your palm in the air, bend it at the elbow, and bed your wrist so you see your finger tips...no with the put your fingertips close to your neck, and shake back and forth... that gesture. I shake my head, ask about doing back squats instead, he nods the affirmative, and we keep going.
I only got 5+1 in... not exactly a great time or speed, but I didn't quit. We're calling that a win after today. I'll explain that. Didn't get much sleep. Not because I didn't try to get sleep, but I was worried about waking up to my alarm for some reason....so I tossed and turned all damn night. #gofigure Lots of big shots at the facility today, so had that added stress.... it's just been meh... sleep does that, or lack thereof does it.
DID get my paleo goodnees today. Even had some artwork on it. Peep this
Even had a picture of someone doing snatches... I know it's not me, I wasn't smiling. Thanks again Carla! Food hit the spot.
Need to figure out Establish and On Track this weekend. I'd really like to just pay a drop in fee when I show up rather than dropping a full 10 day punch card... need to email Heath and see if that is an option. Going to try to stop by On Track as well this weekend as well, meet the owners maybe, see what's what. Wish me luck.
On, last thing, got blood on my lifters tonight. Battle tested! Not sure what happened, but I scratched my right leg, below the knee, inside area. Dripped a little during the METCON, had to clean that up. Have to admit, felt a little bit like a bad ass. Anyways... just sharing. LOL
Made it through the pain, and the warmup... I actually punked out of the warmup. It looked like running, so, being in my lifters, I was like I'll be over here.... rowing. Dave had them do a life sized version of the game hungry hippos.... it doesn't scale quite like you'd think. :) It was 4 corners, teams of 2. Bear crawl to the middle of the room, grab a wall ball, then, with the wallball on your stomach and crab walk back. Looked fun, but I was doing just fun on my rower. By the time they were done...or the time I stopped, I had a 1k done in 4:30. Not terribly fast, but I wasn't really pushing with the spectacle I was watching before me.
Pain is gone, it's go time. The strength/skill part was an 8 minute EMOM of 4 barbell lunges and 10 bar jump overs. Every minute. My lunges are bad... I don't get all the way down on one knee... not even close. My squats are slowly getting heavier... but even with that, I'm still a lot of dude to pick up with one leg, add a barbell of weights....I did try. Quads were on instant fire. The the jump overs... not even close to two footed. I'm in my lifters, and I'm trying... by the end of the EMOM, I want to just fall over and cry...but my flatfooted feet hurt more than than anything else. So I settled for taking off my lifters and getting ready for the METCON... 17 minute AMRAP. Goody!
Simple AMRAP today. 3 power snatches, 6 chest 2 bar pullups, 9 pushups. Every 2 minutes, you stop and work 3 front squats. Knowing all this, I went with a 95lb bar. I might have been able to do RX at 135, but thats over my known 1RM for a snatch of any kind, and the last thing I want to do is destroy my shoulders in a bad way.
This was a bad workout for me. I didn't do particularly well in my mind, and it wore me out. I feel like I rested a lot, even with the scaling options... I mean the girly pushups I'm doing... arms still hurt as I type this. It was a lot of pushups, with me trying to do them with as little "butt in the air" moves as I could (as in hold that plank down and up). The front squats messed me up pretty good. The 5th one was it for my wrists, I was done. Told Jeff that my wrist were shot, he make that shut it down gesture... idk how to explain it... hold out your arm with your palm in the air, bend it at the elbow, and bed your wrist so you see your finger tips...no with the put your fingertips close to your neck, and shake back and forth... that gesture. I shake my head, ask about doing back squats instead, he nods the affirmative, and we keep going.
I only got 5+1 in... not exactly a great time or speed, but I didn't quit. We're calling that a win after today. I'll explain that. Didn't get much sleep. Not because I didn't try to get sleep, but I was worried about waking up to my alarm for some reason....so I tossed and turned all damn night. #gofigure Lots of big shots at the facility today, so had that added stress.... it's just been meh... sleep does that, or lack thereof does it.
DID get my paleo goodnees today. Even had some artwork on it. Peep this
Even had a picture of someone doing snatches... I know it's not me, I wasn't smiling. Thanks again Carla! Food hit the spot.
Need to figure out Establish and On Track this weekend. I'd really like to just pay a drop in fee when I show up rather than dropping a full 10 day punch card... need to email Heath and see if that is an option. Going to try to stop by On Track as well this weekend as well, meet the owners maybe, see what's what. Wish me luck.
On, last thing, got blood on my lifters tonight. Battle tested! Not sure what happened, but I scratched my right leg, below the knee, inside area. Dripped a little during the METCON, had to clean that up. Have to admit, felt a little bit like a bad ass. Anyways... just sharing. LOL
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
It's ok to change your mind
I know I do. Not all the time, but often enough, but more on that in a minute. Don't think I mentioned it yesterday, but my paleo super chef and I missed our connection yesterday. Things happen, not worried about that... but gave me the opportunity to eat a decent sized veggie tray last night. Which would have been better if my stomach didn't declare war this morning. Reminds me of a joke my mom told me... in the 90's? What do you call a vegetarian with diarrhea? A salad shooter!!
Quality potty humor never gets old. Reminds me of another joke...
Moving on.
Made the drive to Diamond State tonight. Rain, mist, and a Nor'easter up north... undeterred. Even made good time. Got there plenty early to see some friendly old faces. Saw some people on the rowers, and it didn't make sense. These are some strong mofo's, and they're rowing already? Let me take a step back, the WOD was a EMOM AMRAP... and I couldn't figure out why these guys were on the rowers, I thought I'd be able to do it... more on this in a minute too.
So, catch up with a few people, coaches I don't get to see often, some I do... Good times. Its about minute 16 into the 20 minute AMRAP that I come to understand why all these folks are on the rowers. You see, I had thought the EMOM of hang cleans, burpees, and wall balls happened separate...ie hang cleans for that minute, next minute was the burpees, then wall balls... which is why I couldn't believe these jokers were rowing (you had to row once you couldn't get the EMOM completed)... it wasn't till the 16th minute that I realized you had to do all 3 in a minute. FML.
I thought I'd get to the end, or close... now I'm like jeeze, I'm going to make it to round 6. Maybe. LOL. No time to worry about that. First we're working up to a heavy 2 rep thurster (4 times)
Worked in a crew of 3, semi slowly getting up to a "heavy" weight. Think we only made it to 135... but that was heavy for me tonight. Funny to me since I can push press 185...ish and front squat 205. And thrusters are basically those two put together... Eh well. Got that done, some panting, I'm tired. Hotel was too hot last night, and that was with my box fan set on high.
AMRAP time... sheeet. Wait. Whats this? Oh we're changing it? Well I think thats good... didn't want to row for 15 minutes anyway. Too many people to have the rowers as an option. So we're partnering up. EMOM still, but every other minute, you get to rest. Only real change is try to get more than one round in each set. AMRAP still applies. Ok, cool.
So 10 rounds of 3 hang power cleans, 4 burpees, 5 wall balls... basically a lot of the same crap I did last night... This is the scaled version by the way. LOL. I let Mark go first... minute goes fast. I didn't do the hang cleans I wanted to... I wanted to make sure I had something light enough to get through this thing with some speed. 95lb power cleans... once or twice I pulled the bar up high enough, quick enough, and out of control enough to catch me in the neck... lol. That didn't last too long though.
Burpees... I worked harder tonight...even harder than last night. I didn't want to step up at all. I ended up doing it once... maybe twice. Not bad for the whole time. Found my last set was better than all my previous ones. Not sure what that was about, guess I just wanted to make sure I finished.
Wall balls... well they were wall balls. I feel like I did those better than I did last night at unlocked... still have Jeff in my ear about staying up tall, and I think I did pretty good with it. The fact I was in my lifters may have helped.
So, the changing my mind thing. I had just finished round 8. I was hurting. Breathing was shallow... trying to get better at gulping it down in a slower, deeper way, but the first 30 seconds of recovering are panting at best.... and I'm feeling this pain. Feel like someone took a barbell at jabbed me just under the ribs. My man Andy Paller is nearby... I describe it to him, and I tell him I think I might be taking this next set off to gather myself. I'm committed. He's silent, still looking over everyone, making sure their form is right. I feel like a dummy after having said it. I've take a few more breaths by now, I feel a little better. Fuqq it, I'm grabbing the bar. The only thing he says is "you've come this far" and he's back to walking, and I'm back on the power cleans.
Proudest moment of the past few weeks. Strong burpees... maybe the strongest yet. Didn't quit on myself, so we'll say I got a little bit stronger mentally. Felt good. Coaches are good for those extra pushes though... Jeff and Andy. Not quite two peas in a pod, but maybe in the pod's next to each other. Makes sense since they grew up more or less together from the few stories I've gotten. Lucky to have them both as coaches. Really, all the coaches I've gotten the chance to chat with, WOD with, or otherwise talk with have been pretty awesome. So if you find yourself at CrossFit Diamond State, CrossFit Unlocked, or CrossFit Establish, you'll be in great hands.
Parting thought, I'm ready for Friday, but not just because it's Friday. I'll be home, and I can get to the office early, get a chance to swing by the gym at work, hop on a scale and see what the past 3 weeks have accomplished. Really wanting to hit that big 50 (lbs lost) before the end of the year. Until then...
Quality potty humor never gets old. Reminds me of another joke...
Moving on.
Made the drive to Diamond State tonight. Rain, mist, and a Nor'easter up north... undeterred. Even made good time. Got there plenty early to see some friendly old faces. Saw some people on the rowers, and it didn't make sense. These are some strong mofo's, and they're rowing already? Let me take a step back, the WOD was a EMOM AMRAP... and I couldn't figure out why these guys were on the rowers, I thought I'd be able to do it... more on this in a minute too.
So, catch up with a few people, coaches I don't get to see often, some I do... Good times. Its about minute 16 into the 20 minute AMRAP that I come to understand why all these folks are on the rowers. You see, I had thought the EMOM of hang cleans, burpees, and wall balls happened separate...ie hang cleans for that minute, next minute was the burpees, then wall balls... which is why I couldn't believe these jokers were rowing (you had to row once you couldn't get the EMOM completed)... it wasn't till the 16th minute that I realized you had to do all 3 in a minute. FML.
I thought I'd get to the end, or close... now I'm like jeeze, I'm going to make it to round 6. Maybe. LOL. No time to worry about that. First we're working up to a heavy 2 rep thurster (4 times)
Worked in a crew of 3, semi slowly getting up to a "heavy" weight. Think we only made it to 135... but that was heavy for me tonight. Funny to me since I can push press 185...ish and front squat 205. And thrusters are basically those two put together... Eh well. Got that done, some panting, I'm tired. Hotel was too hot last night, and that was with my box fan set on high.
AMRAP time... sheeet. Wait. Whats this? Oh we're changing it? Well I think thats good... didn't want to row for 15 minutes anyway. Too many people to have the rowers as an option. So we're partnering up. EMOM still, but every other minute, you get to rest. Only real change is try to get more than one round in each set. AMRAP still applies. Ok, cool.
So 10 rounds of 3 hang power cleans, 4 burpees, 5 wall balls... basically a lot of the same crap I did last night... This is the scaled version by the way. LOL. I let Mark go first... minute goes fast. I didn't do the hang cleans I wanted to... I wanted to make sure I had something light enough to get through this thing with some speed. 95lb power cleans... once or twice I pulled the bar up high enough, quick enough, and out of control enough to catch me in the neck... lol. That didn't last too long though.
Burpees... I worked harder tonight...even harder than last night. I didn't want to step up at all. I ended up doing it once... maybe twice. Not bad for the whole time. Found my last set was better than all my previous ones. Not sure what that was about, guess I just wanted to make sure I finished.
Wall balls... well they were wall balls. I feel like I did those better than I did last night at unlocked... still have Jeff in my ear about staying up tall, and I think I did pretty good with it. The fact I was in my lifters may have helped.
So, the changing my mind thing. I had just finished round 8. I was hurting. Breathing was shallow... trying to get better at gulping it down in a slower, deeper way, but the first 30 seconds of recovering are panting at best.... and I'm feeling this pain. Feel like someone took a barbell at jabbed me just under the ribs. My man Andy Paller is nearby... I describe it to him, and I tell him I think I might be taking this next set off to gather myself. I'm committed. He's silent, still looking over everyone, making sure their form is right. I feel like a dummy after having said it. I've take a few more breaths by now, I feel a little better. Fuqq it, I'm grabbing the bar. The only thing he says is "you've come this far" and he's back to walking, and I'm back on the power cleans.
Proudest moment of the past few weeks. Strong burpees... maybe the strongest yet. Didn't quit on myself, so we'll say I got a little bit stronger mentally. Felt good. Coaches are good for those extra pushes though... Jeff and Andy. Not quite two peas in a pod, but maybe in the pod's next to each other. Makes sense since they grew up more or less together from the few stories I've gotten. Lucky to have them both as coaches. Really, all the coaches I've gotten the chance to chat with, WOD with, or otherwise talk with have been pretty awesome. So if you find yourself at CrossFit Diamond State, CrossFit Unlocked, or CrossFit Establish, you'll be in great hands.
Parting thought, I'm ready for Friday, but not just because it's Friday. I'll be home, and I can get to the office early, get a chance to swing by the gym at work, hop on a scale and see what the past 3 weeks have accomplished. Really wanting to hit that big 50 (lbs lost) before the end of the year. Until then...
Monday, December 8, 2014
Monday night in misery
Man, where to start... I guess at 3am, when I got up to start my day... tired...had an interesting flight into DCA too... only the second time in over 300 flights where I thought today might be the day I don't make it. It's hard to explain in words... well, no, it's hard to explain without using a lot of words. Short version, someone screwed up, and in DC airspace, there isn't much room for "oops" before you're over a no fly zone. It was fun. :)
Lets jump right into it. I've been debating how exactly I wanted to talk trash.... or if I was going to talk trash... I'll just tell you what happened. I get there, right on time, started stretching, ready to go. We're about to do the warm up, Jeff is running the show, trying to decide what to do. Then he gets a suggestion from the peanut gallery. Ticket said something... and to be honest, I didn't hear him, but the result was this thing... call it a burpee circle? If you haven't experienced this... it's something special. Essentially you form a circle, make sure there is adequate space between everyone, then lay on your stomach. Someone starts, and they jump over you, do a burpee, jump over the next person, do another one, so forth and so on. After that first person has been jumped over, then they jump up, and do likewise.
Pretty good warmup right? We had like 20 people tonight. Thats a lot of burpees to warm up with for me man. I started slowing down, may have sandbagged a little so I'd have juice for this nasty workout... didn't make it any easier (didn't help the workout either...). I will say the added pressure of having people behind me waiting, made me push harder.... welcome to CrossFit, land of wanting to do better and not impede other people.
Anyway, get that done... and I'm half looking at the door like dang, I'm done, I'm out. 3am wake up call and ya'll treat me like this.... and it's not even the workout. This WOD is what I've come to expect from Unlocked, and in particular from the coach who programmed it. I won't give out any names, but this guy needs to be beat with wrapping paper tubes and rotten tomato. Some of the nastiest workouts here are his... It's a love/hate relationship.
50 calorie row. 40 wall balls, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 10 handstand pushups, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 40 wall balls.
That row... I have no idea why it was so difficult... actually I do. I was trying to pull like a champion rower... and get one calorie per row, but damn that took a lot out of the tank. I should have just pulled the way I row, changing it messed me up bad. I mean I had to stop several times. I can row a 1k in under 4 minutes, not much in the way of stopping, but 50 calories, stopped several times. I must have looked haggard as a mother, because Jeff came over and was like go ahead and do 4 bastards instead of 8. I had no problem agreeing.
I'm not going to tell you about the suffering, about the scaling, about the step ups... well, I will say the step ups need to be on an 18" box. I think that is going to be the best thing till I can do 24" step ups in their place, then maybe, just maybe get around to doing box jumps. So yeah, two of my five least favorite movements, and lots of them. Wallballs and burpees... I'm having flashbacks already. Just a touch over 30 minutes. Good workout... and really, it's workouts like these that have me believing I'm going to be back on that 10lbs per month weight loss program in no time.
I'm going to bed, it's late enough. Should be hitting up CFDS tomorrow, but I've been told there might be a wintery mix. If the people down here's driving gets me when it's dry, I can only imagine what it's like with that.... lawd help us.
Lets jump right into it. I've been debating how exactly I wanted to talk trash.... or if I was going to talk trash... I'll just tell you what happened. I get there, right on time, started stretching, ready to go. We're about to do the warm up, Jeff is running the show, trying to decide what to do. Then he gets a suggestion from the peanut gallery. Ticket said something... and to be honest, I didn't hear him, but the result was this thing... call it a burpee circle? If you haven't experienced this... it's something special. Essentially you form a circle, make sure there is adequate space between everyone, then lay on your stomach. Someone starts, and they jump over you, do a burpee, jump over the next person, do another one, so forth and so on. After that first person has been jumped over, then they jump up, and do likewise.
Pretty good warmup right? We had like 20 people tonight. Thats a lot of burpees to warm up with for me man. I started slowing down, may have sandbagged a little so I'd have juice for this nasty workout... didn't make it any easier (didn't help the workout either...). I will say the added pressure of having people behind me waiting, made me push harder.... welcome to CrossFit, land of wanting to do better and not impede other people.
Anyway, get that done... and I'm half looking at the door like dang, I'm done, I'm out. 3am wake up call and ya'll treat me like this.... and it's not even the workout. This WOD is what I've come to expect from Unlocked, and in particular from the coach who programmed it. I won't give out any names, but this guy needs to be beat with wrapping paper tubes and rotten tomato. Some of the nastiest workouts here are his... It's a love/hate relationship.
50 calorie row. 40 wall balls, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 10 handstand pushups, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 40 wall balls.
That row... I have no idea why it was so difficult... actually I do. I was trying to pull like a champion rower... and get one calorie per row, but damn that took a lot out of the tank. I should have just pulled the way I row, changing it messed me up bad. I mean I had to stop several times. I can row a 1k in under 4 minutes, not much in the way of stopping, but 50 calories, stopped several times. I must have looked haggard as a mother, because Jeff came over and was like go ahead and do 4 bastards instead of 8. I had no problem agreeing.
I'm not going to tell you about the suffering, about the scaling, about the step ups... well, I will say the step ups need to be on an 18" box. I think that is going to be the best thing till I can do 24" step ups in their place, then maybe, just maybe get around to doing box jumps. So yeah, two of my five least favorite movements, and lots of them. Wallballs and burpees... I'm having flashbacks already. Just a touch over 30 minutes. Good workout... and really, it's workouts like these that have me believing I'm going to be back on that 10lbs per month weight loss program in no time.
I'm going to bed, it's late enough. Should be hitting up CFDS tomorrow, but I've been told there might be a wintery mix. If the people down here's driving gets me when it's dry, I can only imagine what it's like with that.... lawd help us.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Ready to go home after this week...
I'm smoked right now. I probably shouldn't have even gone... and to be honest, during warmups, I was really asking myself what I was doing there. And it wasn't a Karen-esque 50 wallballs, just KB swings, KB lunges, and something else to wake my shoulders up.... sore all over today, and yet I went back. I've got to get back into the 3-4 days a week. The whole 1-2, maybe 3 times thing over the month of November. No pain not gain, or something like that.
Lets jump right in to the work... 10 minute EMOM of dips and thrusters. 4 reps each. I didn't do the thrusters RX (115 I think)... and the dips were on a box. It was rough, my first round of thrusters were slow, which wasn't abnormal, but man that push press part was bad... idk. I HAVE to get faster. I did get faster today. As we got further along, I made every effort to go faster, and you know what, I did. None of them were as slow as the first one, and that made me happier with it.
Alright, so we get that done, and it's on to the main event. A 1000m row, 3 rounds of 10 box jumps, 15 KB swings, 20 situps. The whole "I HAVE to go faster"... right out the window....after I PRd my 1000m row. :D
And to be honest, I rowed badly. I started out pulling at 30 strokes a minute, I wasn't looking at the rower, I was looking everywhere else BUT at the display. When I finally looked down, I saw that 30 and dialed it back....and then I started getting winded. 1 second break. 1 second break. The lack of sleep, the being tired already... it was really catching up tonight. 2 minutes go by, then the 3rd minute hits. I'm in the 800's... this is starting to look a lot like the last time I rowed 1000m. Last time though, I pulled as hard and as fast as I could. This time, I kept my pace. I pulled harder, but I didn't mess with the rhythm. I beat my last PR by a full 10 seconds. 3:51. And remember, I didn't feel like I did very well.
Right, so I sat on the rower sucking air for 10-20 seconds. Finally get up and grab a smaller box. I had a 20" one, but there is no way I'm going to be able to step up on that 30 times. I grabbed a 12"... it wasn't hard enough, but in the same breath, it was enough. The KB I was swinging WAS light, I wanted to be able to go faster. Every time I swung it, I thought I should have manned up an used the RX weight. The situps were situps.
I cheated tonight. I debated 5 minutes here before writing this... and I don't know why. This is supposed to be a very honest trip through CrossFit... and I flubbed my numbers tonight. Still ended up dead last. Not that I was trying to beat everyone, or anyone, but myself... so maybe I didn't cheat so much as I scaled when I needed to? I really don't know which answer is 100% right, and maybe neither are fully true, perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Either way, near the end of some sets, I stopped early. The situps were the biggest thing. 5 short the first two sets, did all 20 at the end. I don't have any good excuses, it hurt, and I was tired. I'll get better. My promise to myself, and to you. Ended up just shy of 13 minutes total (with 1k row). Never caught my breath, 2nd off the rowers, last total....and the guy who was first SMOKED everyone. LOL. Oh, and he's sick by the way. Crazy. I'll get there.
Alright, it's late, I'm tired as hell, I need a full nights sleep. Wont happen tonight either, but this weekend I'm catching up so I'm good to go next week. I had entertained the idea of working out tomorrow morning, but that monster (I just looked) is nothing I can handle at this point in the week, with where I'm at. That workout I told you Ticket was doing while I was doing the 3-5minute AMRAPS... yeah, thats on the board for tomorrow. The first two things were going to be rough, but this third item (of 7) was this:
No, just... no, hell no. It's a 20 minute AMRAP of some crazy things, but that 80 burpees would be the end of me... and with that, I'm going to bed. Just knowing I don't have to do that... I'm suddenly much happier. Good luck tomorrow at Unlocked guys... you'll need it. :)
Lets jump right in to the work... 10 minute EMOM of dips and thrusters. 4 reps each. I didn't do the thrusters RX (115 I think)... and the dips were on a box. It was rough, my first round of thrusters were slow, which wasn't abnormal, but man that push press part was bad... idk. I HAVE to get faster. I did get faster today. As we got further along, I made every effort to go faster, and you know what, I did. None of them were as slow as the first one, and that made me happier with it.
Alright, so we get that done, and it's on to the main event. A 1000m row, 3 rounds of 10 box jumps, 15 KB swings, 20 situps. The whole "I HAVE to go faster"... right out the window....after I PRd my 1000m row. :D
And to be honest, I rowed badly. I started out pulling at 30 strokes a minute, I wasn't looking at the rower, I was looking everywhere else BUT at the display. When I finally looked down, I saw that 30 and dialed it back....and then I started getting winded. 1 second break. 1 second break. The lack of sleep, the being tired already... it was really catching up tonight. 2 minutes go by, then the 3rd minute hits. I'm in the 800's... this is starting to look a lot like the last time I rowed 1000m. Last time though, I pulled as hard and as fast as I could. This time, I kept my pace. I pulled harder, but I didn't mess with the rhythm. I beat my last PR by a full 10 seconds. 3:51. And remember, I didn't feel like I did very well.
Right, so I sat on the rower sucking air for 10-20 seconds. Finally get up and grab a smaller box. I had a 20" one, but there is no way I'm going to be able to step up on that 30 times. I grabbed a 12"... it wasn't hard enough, but in the same breath, it was enough. The KB I was swinging WAS light, I wanted to be able to go faster. Every time I swung it, I thought I should have manned up an used the RX weight. The situps were situps.
I cheated tonight. I debated 5 minutes here before writing this... and I don't know why. This is supposed to be a very honest trip through CrossFit... and I flubbed my numbers tonight. Still ended up dead last. Not that I was trying to beat everyone, or anyone, but myself... so maybe I didn't cheat so much as I scaled when I needed to? I really don't know which answer is 100% right, and maybe neither are fully true, perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Either way, near the end of some sets, I stopped early. The situps were the biggest thing. 5 short the first two sets, did all 20 at the end. I don't have any good excuses, it hurt, and I was tired. I'll get better. My promise to myself, and to you. Ended up just shy of 13 minutes total (with 1k row). Never caught my breath, 2nd off the rowers, last total....and the guy who was first SMOKED everyone. LOL. Oh, and he's sick by the way. Crazy. I'll get there.
Alright, it's late, I'm tired as hell, I need a full nights sleep. Wont happen tonight either, but this weekend I'm catching up so I'm good to go next week. I had entertained the idea of working out tomorrow morning, but that monster (I just looked) is nothing I can handle at this point in the week, with where I'm at. That workout I told you Ticket was doing while I was doing the 3-5minute AMRAPS... yeah, thats on the board for tomorrow. The first two things were going to be rough, but this third item (of 7) was this:
80 reps of burpee
No, just... no, hell no. It's a 20 minute AMRAP of some crazy things, but that 80 burpees would be the end of me... and with that, I'm going to bed. Just knowing I don't have to do that... I'm suddenly much happier. Good luck tomorrow at Unlocked guys... you'll need it. :)
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The saga continues...
Oh wow. First thing I'll say is this paleo buffalo chicken Carla made... fantastic. I was so hungry after the WOD, I ate half of it on the way home. Cold, no silverware, just bare handed. Delicious. Got back to the room, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and it was even better... so good.
Ok, now that I've said that, it's time to talk about putting in some work. I didn't bring my lifters tonight, I really should have. So I come in my busted ass Asics. I figured I could do this WOD in them with minimal fuss. And I may have been right, but our warmup changed my mind, so I'm glad I had the New Balances with me.
I did my warmup, got my hips and shoulders mobilized, and then Jeff gathers us around. Another box member has had a birthday, so our warmup was in honor of her... Partner workout of 100 wallballs. !@#$ Now I really wish I did have my lifters. There was one other stipulation, you had to do it in sets of 10 each, and swap with the ball in the air. If it hits the ground, both have to do burpees. I didn't want to do burpees. At all. LOL. So Shannon grabs the 20lb WB and we begin. I don't think I've ever done 50 WB's, and certainly not at 20lbs. This hurt. Shannon took it in stride, he does RX or close to it every time I see it. For me... it was rough. We didn't drop the ball though, but man I was slow those last two rounds.
I'm sweating. Profusely. I'm tired. My feet hurt, so no Asics, grabbed the New Balance. WOD tonight is 3 consecutive 5 minute AMRAPS.
With my legs already burning from the wallballs, this should be easy... right? Lets be honest, this thing is nasty.
The first round was arguably the best, and I only got 2+7. The squats started pretty well, deep, fairly upright. The first set of burpees weren't bad either. After that... lol. I need to keep laughing... makes it hurt less. The second set saw deep squats, but my chest was coming down. I didn't mind, but Jeff was watching me close. Wants me to keep that chest high. The third set, I wasn't going very deep, I'd given up, did it Jeffs way. I'm not going to say they were bad from a depth perspective, but I know they weren't where I wanted to be.
Moving on, my shoulders are still a bit smoked from Tuesday. These push presses were painful, and heavy. Who'd have thought 95lbs, half of my 1RM, would be so heavy today. But getting through these was easy. The pistols, after the wallballs, after the squats... yeah right. I did a new modification, had one foot a bit back, about like split jerk, and then descend on the forward leg. My balance needs work, so this was difficult, but for that reason and not because it was heavy... I mean it was heavy, but I struggled as much with staying upright. Ended up with 3+1. 10 minutes in, chest heaving, and it's on to round 3.
Working out in front of me is Wayne, he's crushing it. To my left is Adam, known as Big Ticket, he's doing a different workout with 3 others... it looks about as fun as mine.
Third round was brutal. My squats felt like my HSPU yesterday... shallow and weak. I kept the chest tall though, and tried to go deeper every lift. I will beat this at some point. I wont bore you with the suffering. I got a little stronger in the end when getting up from the bottom of the burpee. It's not a lot of speed, but it's something I pushed for, and it's something I can measure. Final for the round, and even 2.
I'm dead. I'm almost to the point I can't breath. I sat on a box, and struggled to catch my breath. I don't remember ever being like this. More than once I wondered if I'd start seeing black on the edges of my vision. Never happened, but I was looking hard for it.
CrossFit is a funny thing. The moment I finally got enough breath to do or say anything, I'm yelling encouragement to Ticket since he's still going in his WOD. I'm not trying to get more air, I'm not cleaning up, I'm trying to motivate another athlete to go faster and further than he wants to... maybe CrossFit is just funny to me.
I cleaned up my bar and then did our cash out of a 1 minute plank. Had to break it up into 2 20 seconds and then 2 10 seconds. I think it's better than any time before it, but I couldn't say what with much confidence. I'm finally done. I stick around for a while. Try to help Brian put together a new rower... it's really a one man job, so I did more watching than anything.
Good workout, I'm tied, my quads hurt, and they're going to get beat up again tomorrow, I already know what we're doing. Doesn't matter though, no time to cherry pick, need to get back to 3-4 times a week in a bad way. Paleo is still going strong (thanks again Carla!). The saga continues...
Ok, now that I've said that, it's time to talk about putting in some work. I didn't bring my lifters tonight, I really should have. So I come in my busted ass Asics. I figured I could do this WOD in them with minimal fuss. And I may have been right, but our warmup changed my mind, so I'm glad I had the New Balances with me.
I did my warmup, got my hips and shoulders mobilized, and then Jeff gathers us around. Another box member has had a birthday, so our warmup was in honor of her... Partner workout of 100 wallballs. !@#$ Now I really wish I did have my lifters. There was one other stipulation, you had to do it in sets of 10 each, and swap with the ball in the air. If it hits the ground, both have to do burpees. I didn't want to do burpees. At all. LOL. So Shannon grabs the 20lb WB and we begin. I don't think I've ever done 50 WB's, and certainly not at 20lbs. This hurt. Shannon took it in stride, he does RX or close to it every time I see it. For me... it was rough. We didn't drop the ball though, but man I was slow those last two rounds.
I'm sweating. Profusely. I'm tired. My feet hurt, so no Asics, grabbed the New Balance. WOD tonight is 3 consecutive 5 minute AMRAPS.
5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of back squat at 95 lb 6 reps of bastard 5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of push press at 95 lb 6 reps of pistol 5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of back squat at 95 lb 6 reps of bastard
With my legs already burning from the wallballs, this should be easy... right? Lets be honest, this thing is nasty.
The first round was arguably the best, and I only got 2+7. The squats started pretty well, deep, fairly upright. The first set of burpees weren't bad either. After that... lol. I need to keep laughing... makes it hurt less. The second set saw deep squats, but my chest was coming down. I didn't mind, but Jeff was watching me close. Wants me to keep that chest high. The third set, I wasn't going very deep, I'd given up, did it Jeffs way. I'm not going to say they were bad from a depth perspective, but I know they weren't where I wanted to be.
Moving on, my shoulders are still a bit smoked from Tuesday. These push presses were painful, and heavy. Who'd have thought 95lbs, half of my 1RM, would be so heavy today. But getting through these was easy. The pistols, after the wallballs, after the squats... yeah right. I did a new modification, had one foot a bit back, about like split jerk, and then descend on the forward leg. My balance needs work, so this was difficult, but for that reason and not because it was heavy... I mean it was heavy, but I struggled as much with staying upright. Ended up with 3+1. 10 minutes in, chest heaving, and it's on to round 3.
Working out in front of me is Wayne, he's crushing it. To my left is Adam, known as Big Ticket, he's doing a different workout with 3 others... it looks about as fun as mine.
Third round was brutal. My squats felt like my HSPU yesterday... shallow and weak. I kept the chest tall though, and tried to go deeper every lift. I will beat this at some point. I wont bore you with the suffering. I got a little stronger in the end when getting up from the bottom of the burpee. It's not a lot of speed, but it's something I pushed for, and it's something I can measure. Final for the round, and even 2.
I'm dead. I'm almost to the point I can't breath. I sat on a box, and struggled to catch my breath. I don't remember ever being like this. More than once I wondered if I'd start seeing black on the edges of my vision. Never happened, but I was looking hard for it.
CrossFit is a funny thing. The moment I finally got enough breath to do or say anything, I'm yelling encouragement to Ticket since he's still going in his WOD. I'm not trying to get more air, I'm not cleaning up, I'm trying to motivate another athlete to go faster and further than he wants to... maybe CrossFit is just funny to me.
I cleaned up my bar and then did our cash out of a 1 minute plank. Had to break it up into 2 20 seconds and then 2 10 seconds. I think it's better than any time before it, but I couldn't say what with much confidence. I'm finally done. I stick around for a while. Try to help Brian put together a new rower... it's really a one man job, so I did more watching than anything.
Good workout, I'm tied, my quads hurt, and they're going to get beat up again tomorrow, I already know what we're doing. Doesn't matter though, no time to cherry pick, need to get back to 3-4 times a week in a bad way. Paleo is still going strong (thanks again Carla!). The saga continues...
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Cleanin' and Jerkin'
Can't believe I made it the entire Thanksgiving week without a single stitch of turkey. Not that I was trying to avoid it mind you, but I had a carb. bonanza. that day and there wasn't much protein on the plate... paid for it on my flight Monday too... So much bloating and gas, bet I was a joy to be around. Thankfully I slept for a bit on each flight, so I didn't notice it :) I guess I should reference that the family Thanksgiving was Sunday.
Monday sucked. I mean it was a work day, THEN a travel day. Didn't get to DE and in bed until 3AM on Tuesday. Ug. Another 3 5hour energy day..... didn't quit (caffeine) over this break like I thought I would... so maybe Christmas....
Monday also sucked because the rental I picked up has issues mechanically, and more importantly, has some extra fees. I'm flew in at BWI, and I'm flying out from PHL, so it's a one-way rental. Those apparently carry a $.35 charger per mile. I'm glad I found that today... beacause I was going to go to Diamond State, and that would have cost me almost $60, not counting gas. I love you guys, a lot, but I can't afford $80 a trip. Time I can spend, yes, $$, not quite there, can't explain that away to the bean counters. But it's all good, I'll be back next week with a round trip from the same airport (DCA)...this means it's an unlimited mileage...so I can drive to Canada and back, and there is no extra mileage charge. Still have to pay for that gas though... so thats not working, but you get the idea.
So that means more time with the Unlocked crew. Helluva "consolation prize" since I couldn't make it to CFDS. Had an interesting workout tonight. At first glance, it wasn't anything I really wanted to do... but I'm here, it's a WOD with good peeps... lets do it!.
Clean and jerk...still sounds dirty...I'll never grow out of my sophomoric humor, sue me. This is a move I haven't done very much of in all my months of CrossFit. I hit a 1RM tonight for the movement. Was close to my 1RM for the separate movements. Stuck with the power clean to get the weight up... and I wonder if I'd tried to squat clean it, if I'd been fine to do it. When you don't think about it too much, it can't get in your head right? The jerk was decent, I just did a push jerk...or squat jerk... I don't know the name exactly, but I didn't jump. I'm still not comfortable leaving my feet with extra weight.
We shared bars tonight, I worked with a new guy Randy. He did pretty good for being new to the lifting. I tried my best to show him good technique when I was working and he was resting. Hopefully I did ok. My last lift... wasn't it though. LOL. I caught the bar with a bowed back, and I don't remember if it was there, or in the dip/drive of my push jerk. At some point, in there, I popped something above the sacrum. It didn't hurt, but it did surprise me. My push jerk was a lot more like a push press than a jerk... but I got it up and done. 175lbs.
It didn't hurt... but I felt like I should stop while I'm ahead... almost stopped the workout, but there wasn't pain, stiffness, or soreness, so I decided to continue on. Diane I believe is this wonder workouts name. 21-15-9 of dead-lifts at 225 and handstand pushups. I didn't do the full 225. I ended up with 185 on my bar, it was heavy, but didn't slow me down terribly much....the last 9, I only dropped the bar once, had found a great rhythm. The HSPU's were another matter. I got a new mod, instead of just doing knee pushups, or flubbing with box pushups, did something different. Put some plates on the ground, then stood in a pike position as best I could, and did them that way....I'm sure it doesn't lend itself to the imagination...
There, like that... and the higher you get your but in the air, the more like a HSPU it is, and the harder it is. I don't have a picture of how I looked doing it, but I feel like I was where these kids are... and, to my own shame, I think I was going down maybe 4"... I mean it may have been more, but I certainly didn't feel like I was going very far. Shit was hard man. I did about half of the 21, then went to the knees... I didn't bother with many the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Ended up at 7:56 with the 8 minute cap out there... Guess I made the right call.
Cashout was a 20 calorie row. Apparently there is a way to game the wheel, so you can get it to a calorie a pull.... I'll have to mess with it to see. I just pulled at it, and it took me 35 seconds to hit 20 calories. Not a bad time, but not where I want to be. Rowing is my great equalizer, and minus not having the lung capacity other athletes have, it's a level playing field. Maybe I can make this my whoop ass area for now... hmmm, devious thoughts.
Alright, thats everything. Ate a meh dinner tonight, wasn't expecting to be down here, so I ended up with a few pieces of fried chicken tenders... just couldn't wait till I got back to the hotel (and then showered) to go somewhere else. Had my recovery and some veggies when I got back, so it wasn't a total loss. Looking forward to tomorrow and what it brings. Until then!
Monday sucked. I mean it was a work day, THEN a travel day. Didn't get to DE and in bed until 3AM on Tuesday. Ug. Another 3 5hour energy day..... didn't quit (caffeine) over this break like I thought I would... so maybe Christmas....
Monday also sucked because the rental I picked up has issues mechanically, and more importantly, has some extra fees. I'm flew in at BWI, and I'm flying out from PHL, so it's a one-way rental. Those apparently carry a $.35 charger per mile. I'm glad I found that today... beacause I was going to go to Diamond State, and that would have cost me almost $60, not counting gas. I love you guys, a lot, but I can't afford $80 a trip. Time I can spend, yes, $$, not quite there, can't explain that away to the bean counters. But it's all good, I'll be back next week with a round trip from the same airport (DCA)...this means it's an unlimited mileage...so I can drive to Canada and back, and there is no extra mileage charge. Still have to pay for that gas though... so thats not working, but you get the idea.
So that means more time with the Unlocked crew. Helluva "consolation prize" since I couldn't make it to CFDS. Had an interesting workout tonight. At first glance, it wasn't anything I really wanted to do... but I'm here, it's a WOD with good peeps... lets do it!.
Clean and jerk...still sounds dirty...I'll never grow out of my sophomoric humor, sue me. This is a move I haven't done very much of in all my months of CrossFit. I hit a 1RM tonight for the movement. Was close to my 1RM for the separate movements. Stuck with the power clean to get the weight up... and I wonder if I'd tried to squat clean it, if I'd been fine to do it. When you don't think about it too much, it can't get in your head right? The jerk was decent, I just did a push jerk...or squat jerk... I don't know the name exactly, but I didn't jump. I'm still not comfortable leaving my feet with extra weight.
We shared bars tonight, I worked with a new guy Randy. He did pretty good for being new to the lifting. I tried my best to show him good technique when I was working and he was resting. Hopefully I did ok. My last lift... wasn't it though. LOL. I caught the bar with a bowed back, and I don't remember if it was there, or in the dip/drive of my push jerk. At some point, in there, I popped something above the sacrum. It didn't hurt, but it did surprise me. My push jerk was a lot more like a push press than a jerk... but I got it up and done. 175lbs.
It didn't hurt... but I felt like I should stop while I'm ahead... almost stopped the workout, but there wasn't pain, stiffness, or soreness, so I decided to continue on. Diane I believe is this wonder workouts name. 21-15-9 of dead-lifts at 225 and handstand pushups. I didn't do the full 225. I ended up with 185 on my bar, it was heavy, but didn't slow me down terribly much....the last 9, I only dropped the bar once, had found a great rhythm. The HSPU's were another matter. I got a new mod, instead of just doing knee pushups, or flubbing with box pushups, did something different. Put some plates on the ground, then stood in a pike position as best I could, and did them that way....I'm sure it doesn't lend itself to the imagination...
Cashout was a 20 calorie row. Apparently there is a way to game the wheel, so you can get it to a calorie a pull.... I'll have to mess with it to see. I just pulled at it, and it took me 35 seconds to hit 20 calories. Not a bad time, but not where I want to be. Rowing is my great equalizer, and minus not having the lung capacity other athletes have, it's a level playing field. Maybe I can make this my whoop ass area for now... hmmm, devious thoughts.
Alright, thats everything. Ate a meh dinner tonight, wasn't expecting to be down here, so I ended up with a few pieces of fried chicken tenders... just couldn't wait till I got back to the hotel (and then showered) to go somewhere else. Had my recovery and some veggies when I got back, so it wasn't a total loss. Looking forward to tomorrow and what it brings. Until then!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Week in review
Been a busy week, holiday and all. Didn't workout much, didn't fall off the eating plan much either though... well... I didn't take a nose dive off the wagon, how bout that instead. Went to workout on Monday, it was a 1RM back squat day... and I felt good, like I could hit another PR on the same movement in 6 days. Wasn't to be. On the first set with only the bar, I felt a bit of a tug on my groin? IDK exactly what it was, pretty sure it was a groin tendon/muscle. Took some time to do some more oly stretching on the wall... calmed it down and was able to continue. Got to 195, which felt plenty good, but I ran out of time with the additional stretching.
Breaking down the bar, I felt a little.... something in my left knee, just to the inside of the kneecap. Not sure what it was, but I decided to shut it down right there. METCON had DU's, push-ups, and running... so no, little something with the knee, going to stop ya right there.
Didn't go Tuesday, didn't Wednesday. Wanted to on Thursday, but I stayed up to late with some friends, would have been nasty. Think it was...Isabel, Grace, and Fran. Guess they earned their dinner, those that did it. Good on them. Fast forward to Saturday, a day I don't normally go to the box... I went.
I knew I wasn't going to make it to the WOD, which was a push press, but that was ok. I came with 2 goals in mind. I wanted to PR my bench press and front squat. I felt good this morning, had a good breakfast with Doc Cartwright, and then I was off. My stated goal was getting both lifts weights into Club200. I like Club200...could be The 200 Club or a few other things, but Club200 sounds good. Anyway, that was the stated goal. And I hit it. :P
The front squat wasn't bad, but I haven't front squatted since I got the last PR (that I can recall), so I'm not really used to holding a front rack position while squatting. As I got up there, it got heavy... I need to work on that. And to Jeff Peet's coaching, I need to put some effort into the core to keep myself upright. I had the plates on, ready to go. Lifting that thing up, I had a bit of an ooompf moment. Heavy. The rack was strong coming off the rig, but as soon as I started dropping, it didn't hold up. I hit bottom, and I'm holding this whole thing on my wrists/arms... I mean I think it's touching my chest, but thats it. I power up and out of it... I can probably do more, but my wrists are toast, there is no way I can do another one AND bench, I just dont' see it. So I stop. 205. Box one checked.
Strip the bar, on to the bench. I still have a stigma with this... it's not really a big CrossFit movement that I've noticed over the past 7 months, but it was the first thing I did at EST that hot Friday seemingly so long ago. Before that, I hadn't benched since... '05? Idk, a while. I know EST is doing the 1RM to finish up the sets they started 5 weeks ago, I'll be in DE, so I went for it today. It got heavy quick. Used the exact same weight increments as the front squats. 175 was pretty heavy, and wasn't far from my 1RM. I put the 15's on anyway, but got a spot.
Lifting it off the rack, it was heavy, but felt manageable... till I got it over my chest. Felt like it would be very difficult to get up from the bottom, and it was. After it touched the chest, I pushed as hard as I could. So hard that I closed my eyes while pushing up. This got Scott involved, I guess I went out a bit more with my left, and it looked shaky. I felt him touch the bar to guide it back, and then I was up. He tells me it was just to stabilize, but now I'm not sure I hit it... I've got a complex now. LOL! So I gave it a minute, tried again. Needed the spot this time. !!@#$ Took 5lbs off to make it an even 200... Failed again, paused too long at the bottom. I'm done. Scott, whom I call the professor, said he'd count that 1st one... so after some debate with myself, I will. :D
That gives me 5 lifts of the 17 I want to be over 200. Getting stronger, I love it.
I'm moving. EST is no longer going to be home, going to be further south west of EST, and it's just too far to drive when I'm in KC. 81 miles to CFDS when I'm in Delaware, no biggy, I'm not at home, I live in a hotel. When I'm in KC, I like being home. Got a good idea where I'm going to go, place called CrossFit On Track. Got some good recommendations by my people in KC, so we're going to give them a go in about a month. Even the nomad doesn't stay in one place in KC...
Big things to come, stay tuned!
Oh, last thing, just crossed 4k page views. Cool to see, thanks for reading!
Breaking down the bar, I felt a little.... something in my left knee, just to the inside of the kneecap. Not sure what it was, but I decided to shut it down right there. METCON had DU's, push-ups, and running... so no, little something with the knee, going to stop ya right there.
Didn't go Tuesday, didn't Wednesday. Wanted to on Thursday, but I stayed up to late with some friends, would have been nasty. Think it was...Isabel, Grace, and Fran. Guess they earned their dinner, those that did it. Good on them. Fast forward to Saturday, a day I don't normally go to the box... I went.
I knew I wasn't going to make it to the WOD, which was a push press, but that was ok. I came with 2 goals in mind. I wanted to PR my bench press and front squat. I felt good this morning, had a good breakfast with Doc Cartwright, and then I was off. My stated goal was getting both lifts weights into Club200. I like Club200...could be The 200 Club or a few other things, but Club200 sounds good. Anyway, that was the stated goal. And I hit it. :P
The front squat wasn't bad, but I haven't front squatted since I got the last PR (that I can recall), so I'm not really used to holding a front rack position while squatting. As I got up there, it got heavy... I need to work on that. And to Jeff Peet's coaching, I need to put some effort into the core to keep myself upright. I had the plates on, ready to go. Lifting that thing up, I had a bit of an ooompf moment. Heavy. The rack was strong coming off the rig, but as soon as I started dropping, it didn't hold up. I hit bottom, and I'm holding this whole thing on my wrists/arms... I mean I think it's touching my chest, but thats it. I power up and out of it... I can probably do more, but my wrists are toast, there is no way I can do another one AND bench, I just dont' see it. So I stop. 205. Box one checked.
Strip the bar, on to the bench. I still have a stigma with this... it's not really a big CrossFit movement that I've noticed over the past 7 months, but it was the first thing I did at EST that hot Friday seemingly so long ago. Before that, I hadn't benched since... '05? Idk, a while. I know EST is doing the 1RM to finish up the sets they started 5 weeks ago, I'll be in DE, so I went for it today. It got heavy quick. Used the exact same weight increments as the front squats. 175 was pretty heavy, and wasn't far from my 1RM. I put the 15's on anyway, but got a spot.
Lifting it off the rack, it was heavy, but felt manageable... till I got it over my chest. Felt like it would be very difficult to get up from the bottom, and it was. After it touched the chest, I pushed as hard as I could. So hard that I closed my eyes while pushing up. This got Scott involved, I guess I went out a bit more with my left, and it looked shaky. I felt him touch the bar to guide it back, and then I was up. He tells me it was just to stabilize, but now I'm not sure I hit it... I've got a complex now. LOL! So I gave it a minute, tried again. Needed the spot this time. !!@#$ Took 5lbs off to make it an even 200... Failed again, paused too long at the bottom. I'm done. Scott, whom I call the professor, said he'd count that 1st one... so after some debate with myself, I will. :D
That gives me 5 lifts of the 17 I want to be over 200. Getting stronger, I love it.
I'm moving. EST is no longer going to be home, going to be further south west of EST, and it's just too far to drive when I'm in KC. 81 miles to CFDS when I'm in Delaware, no biggy, I'm not at home, I live in a hotel. When I'm in KC, I like being home. Got a good idea where I'm going to go, place called CrossFit On Track. Got some good recommendations by my people in KC, so we're going to give them a go in about a month. Even the nomad doesn't stay in one place in KC...
Big things to come, stay tuned!
Oh, last thing, just crossed 4k page views. Cool to see, thanks for reading!
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Accidental PR's are pretty damn cool
Well there. Interesting night. Found myself going to CFDS tonight. Wasn't sure if I'd do the workout... had a heavy 10 RM for the back squat to do... and after setting a PR for the 1RM last night... I... just... no.
Got to CFDS... decided I was going to talk to Gia, find out what she though. So I get in, wave and talk to several of my peoples, then I get to G. I tell her my issues. My triceps hurt when I look at them. My abs...or where they're going are sore. My glutes are a little sore. Oh, and I just set a 1RM for the same movement tonight. What do you think about me rowing a bit? I don't remember the exact response, but it was something like "sure".
I took a while to get to the rower, spent a lot of time catching up with people and G in the 630 class. Finally pulled down the rower. Wasn't sure how far I'd go. 2, 3, 4k? Lets go. I started off pulling and looking around, watching folks workout, reading some of the 2014 goals on the CFDS board... lots of things crossed out or increased, very cool to see. I now started focusing on the pull. Making sure I was at about 22 pulls a min. Legs, arms, back, legs, arms, back again, legs, arms, etc. I'm not sure why I decided to look down at the distance, it was one of the smaller numbers... it was at 850m. So I looked at the time, over 3 minutes... hmmm, maybe I can get to 1k by 4?
PULL MOTHER !@#%#&! I kept the same form, but I added nearly 20 pulls per minute. I had 150m...ish to get to 1k. I pulled faster and faster, I'm going to do it, going to do, going to....
Damn, just missed it. I stopped my last pull with 15m or so to go and let it "coast" to 1k. Breathless. Cost me my 4 minutes. Ended up with 04:01. 14 second PR. It's funny... to me at least... I wasn't even trying for a PR...or for time at all, until I saw that I was close and tried. STILL took 14 seconds off my previous time... crazy. I'm actually stoked. Crazy how that happened. I'll be in the 3's next time.
Anyway, rowed another 1k, but with 2 breaks. Then I was done. More talking with G, Randi, and a few other peeps, and then it was time to go home. I enjoy the trips, and the time with fam. Worth it every time.
Got to CFDS... decided I was going to talk to Gia, find out what she though. So I get in, wave and talk to several of my peoples, then I get to G. I tell her my issues. My triceps hurt when I look at them. My abs...or where they're going are sore. My glutes are a little sore. Oh, and I just set a 1RM for the same movement tonight. What do you think about me rowing a bit? I don't remember the exact response, but it was something like "sure".
I took a while to get to the rower, spent a lot of time catching up with people and G in the 630 class. Finally pulled down the rower. Wasn't sure how far I'd go. 2, 3, 4k? Lets go. I started off pulling and looking around, watching folks workout, reading some of the 2014 goals on the CFDS board... lots of things crossed out or increased, very cool to see. I now started focusing on the pull. Making sure I was at about 22 pulls a min. Legs, arms, back, legs, arms, back again, legs, arms, etc. I'm not sure why I decided to look down at the distance, it was one of the smaller numbers... it was at 850m. So I looked at the time, over 3 minutes... hmmm, maybe I can get to 1k by 4?
PULL MOTHER !@#%#&! I kept the same form, but I added nearly 20 pulls per minute. I had 150m...ish to get to 1k. I pulled faster and faster, I'm going to do it, going to do, going to....
Damn, just missed it. I stopped my last pull with 15m or so to go and let it "coast" to 1k. Breathless. Cost me my 4 minutes. Ended up with 04:01. 14 second PR. It's funny... to me at least... I wasn't even trying for a PR...or for time at all, until I saw that I was close and tried. STILL took 14 seconds off my previous time... crazy. I'm actually stoked. Crazy how that happened. I'll be in the 3's next time.
Anyway, rowed another 1k, but with 2 breaks. Then I was done. More talking with G, Randi, and a few other peeps, and then it was time to go home. I enjoy the trips, and the time with fam. Worth it every time.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Bagles and Donuts
The devil is after me! Last night, an offer of what I'm sure was glorious Mexican food. Turned it down in the name of progress, fitness, and all that is... holy? No, no, thats not right... smh. Anyway, turned that down, ate some rabbit food, went to bed. Got up at 0320 for work (nor a normal time), had our upgrade, great success, rah rah. Site director shows up at 8. Brings my second favorite breakfast food. Bagels. I've always had a soft spot for bagels and cream cheese. Can't get enough of that stuff... and here it is, in copious amounts, begging me for some indulgence. Two of my fav's within 12 hours of each other... dang. Fear not, my resolve is rock solid, I have no plans to partake, at least not this week. Like I said last post, bread free for at least a week, getting back to basics.
The rest of the day drug on, and on... and on... something like 13 or 14 hours. Ug. To top it off, took not 1, not 2, but 3 5 hour energies to get through the day. Unhealthy to say the least. Next week, Thanksgiving week, going cold turkey on the caffeine, wish me luck.
So I made it through the day on 3ish hours sleep, and found myself at the crossroads of going to CFDS or CFU. I elected for Unlocked because their programming was more weights focused, and with this little sleep, the elements at CFDS would have been rough, let alone the drive home. Gotta make sure I get enough sleep tonight so I can make it up there tomorrow for sure. So I arrive a little early, get some quality warming up in before we're supposed to warm up. Then a new coach (new to me) decides to do something different. Lots of dynamic stretching, line drills, things like that. Did it all in the lifters, my "arches" we're dying at the end. I wasn't doing much better, slightly heavy breathing, and a good sweat. Maybe I haven't shaken all this illness after all?
Simple programming today. 1RM of the back squat, death by power cleans. Lifting I can do tired... or at least do better than box jumps... So thats why I'm at Unlocked. Worked up to close to my previous PR, and then instead of hitting it, we went over it by 10. Easy. Now I'm still tired, but the 10 was easy, so we added more weight. The next rep was the last one I felt like doing with my current energy levels. I rocked forward a little, but got the weight up... yeah, definitely stopping here. Stopped on 245, a nice little 30lb PR. #gettingstronger Have to tell you, there is something in the water down here, there were some small ladies who hit 205 for theirs today... Unlocked is looking more like a machine factory every day with the weight these folks are moving... it's pretty damn cool to see.
Didn't have time to celebrate the PR, had this death by power cleans. PR was 155... and 185... or something like that is my current PR... so thats too close for this thing. I wanted to do 135, but I had a feeling that was going to be too taxing, so I went down to 115. The rep scheme of this was a power clean per minute. 1 at the first minute, 2 at the second, 3 at the third, etc etc. to 10. So if you didn't make it to 10 (while getting that count of clean done), then you had to drop the weight and start over.
The first couple of rounds were real easy. Around 5 or 6, I really started to think I should have done 135. Then round 8 came. Oh boy 8 came with a vengeance. At this point I'll tell you, my power cleans are nasty. I mean the form is bad... my pull... it's part being tired, part being strong, and part being tired...some more. LOL. I'm not even bending at the knees to receive the bar. I'm dong muscle cleans. I really think I need to spend some time working on my pull... when I get this right, I'm going to be a monster. Anyway, rounds 8, 9, and 10 were difficult, but I got them done. I could have kept going on 11... probably could have made it too, but I quit when I hit the min. Mental toughness is at the top of things to improve. #workinprogress
So, workout is over, I'm feeling it, and it feels good. I don't regret not going further, or the weight choice, I'm sufficiently worn down and tired. I'm going to bed, like now. Catch you later.
The rest of the day drug on, and on... and on... something like 13 or 14 hours. Ug. To top it off, took not 1, not 2, but 3 5 hour energies to get through the day. Unhealthy to say the least. Next week, Thanksgiving week, going cold turkey on the caffeine, wish me luck.
So I made it through the day on 3ish hours sleep, and found myself at the crossroads of going to CFDS or CFU. I elected for Unlocked because their programming was more weights focused, and with this little sleep, the elements at CFDS would have been rough, let alone the drive home. Gotta make sure I get enough sleep tonight so I can make it up there tomorrow for sure. So I arrive a little early, get some quality warming up in before we're supposed to warm up. Then a new coach (new to me) decides to do something different. Lots of dynamic stretching, line drills, things like that. Did it all in the lifters, my "arches" we're dying at the end. I wasn't doing much better, slightly heavy breathing, and a good sweat. Maybe I haven't shaken all this illness after all?
Simple programming today. 1RM of the back squat, death by power cleans. Lifting I can do tired... or at least do better than box jumps... So thats why I'm at Unlocked. Worked up to close to my previous PR, and then instead of hitting it, we went over it by 10. Easy. Now I'm still tired, but the 10 was easy, so we added more weight. The next rep was the last one I felt like doing with my current energy levels. I rocked forward a little, but got the weight up... yeah, definitely stopping here. Stopped on 245, a nice little 30lb PR. #gettingstronger Have to tell you, there is something in the water down here, there were some small ladies who hit 205 for theirs today... Unlocked is looking more like a machine factory every day with the weight these folks are moving... it's pretty damn cool to see.
Didn't have time to celebrate the PR, had this death by power cleans. PR was 155... and 185... or something like that is my current PR... so thats too close for this thing. I wanted to do 135, but I had a feeling that was going to be too taxing, so I went down to 115. The rep scheme of this was a power clean per minute. 1 at the first minute, 2 at the second, 3 at the third, etc etc. to 10. So if you didn't make it to 10 (while getting that count of clean done), then you had to drop the weight and start over.
The first couple of rounds were real easy. Around 5 or 6, I really started to think I should have done 135. Then round 8 came. Oh boy 8 came with a vengeance. At this point I'll tell you, my power cleans are nasty. I mean the form is bad... my pull... it's part being tired, part being strong, and part being tired...some more. LOL. I'm not even bending at the knees to receive the bar. I'm dong muscle cleans. I really think I need to spend some time working on my pull... when I get this right, I'm going to be a monster. Anyway, rounds 8, 9, and 10 were difficult, but I got them done. I could have kept going on 11... probably could have made it too, but I quit when I hit the min. Mental toughness is at the top of things to improve. #workinprogress
So, workout is over, I'm feeling it, and it feels good. I don't regret not going further, or the weight choice, I'm sufficiently worn down and tired. I'm going to bed, like now. Catch you later.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Celebrate today, and let tomorrow worry about itself
Happy Monday! Said no one you know....ever. Well... maybe not till now. :) I'm having a great day, well, a mostly great day. Had a solid day at work, ate paleo...ish all day, first workout back from being sick, bought my first Progenex supplement, so yeah, pretty good day.
Flew in last night, so I got plenty of sleep. Woke up fairly refreshed (for not having a fan). Got to the office and ... fast forward.... ate a salad with chicken (and some dressing, so paleo...ish)... fast forward.... and I'm out. Now if only work really was that fast...
Ran to the hotel, got changed, and off to Unlocked. Then, the work I've been dreading since yesterday was upon me. Dreading this workout because it's some of the hardest stuff for me. Getting on, then off the ground. Still a lot of Dan to pick up. Wont bother to tell you what the RX was, but I'll tell you what I did tonight. 21 burpees... Got them in 3 minutes, which I t don't know if thats a PR in and of itself, but it felt like it... then it was on to the 15-12-9-6-3 of situps, and then 95lb push press. 95 may have been too heavy, because for a few sets, it was a super struggle. I mean I broke up the 9's and 6's...
Awesome, gassed, ready to move on...but wait, there is more. This set was 12-9-6-3 of OHS and situps. This was supposed to be at 95 lbs. No effing way. Thats is too close to my 1RM... and thats too many reps, I stripped that bad boy down to just the bar and scaled it. Had to. I struggled with that OHS for the first set. Had to set the bar down, it was awful. THEN, second set, it dawns on me. I'm not pushing my butt back, and then lowering... Did the rest of those unbroken... now we're cooking. Done, now what? Oh yeah, cashing out with 21 more burpees... FML. I wanted so badly to jump up for some of these, but I couldn't get it together. I stood up/stepped up for almost...if not every one of these. But I did them.
25:36... no record.. in fact, it was scaled and still almost 10 minutes longer than the people I want to emulate. I want to be there today, but I need to appreciate the journey...and frankly the journey is what I'm chronicling now... can't just skip to the last page, gotta build up to it.
Alright, time for some searing confessions. I'm a dirty cheater. Not so much with the workouts, I scale as I need to, as noted above, but I try not to cut corners. My man Dave Pulcinella is one of the most honest guys in CrossFit. Dude does every stinking rep. Did them all tonight. I beat Dave by about a minute, and that was with my numbers scaled. Like I said though, not talking about that cheating tonight. Talking about that dietary stuff.
I'm guilty.
There, that actually feels a bit better. No sugar coating, no "eh, I mostly ate right", no, I've been a dirty cheat. Now, last week doesn't count, I was sickly... there is a bit of distinction there. But other than that, I've been awful. First 3 months, lose 30 lbs, next 3 months only lose 10... yeah, you tell me. And it's not like I've plateaued... and I haven't missed a lot of time at the box, that leaves the obvious. So there, I said it, I've admitted it, and I can tell you I'm moving on. I've got big, harry, audacious goals, and the last 3 months have shown me how not to get them.
Doing Lurong, a squat cycle, and regular WODs, while traveling, was clearly too much for me... and so after 2 weeks I ditched the squat cycle, after another 2 weeks, ditched Lurong... and still I fell. I'm telling you now I've turned the corner. Happily. I've made it my goal this week to not eat a single stitch of "bread". No breading on the chicken, no sandwiches, no pasta, nada. Today was a great first step. What makes today even better, I just found out that one of Unlockeds athletes cooks Paleo meals for folks!!! Think they said...well, forget the price, it's reasonable, and it covers me after the WOD... no temptations on the way home. Can't tell you how awesome this is. Clearly a sign... or something.
So thats why I'm having an awesome Monday. Got some Progenex, recommitted to a paleo(ish) lifestyle, back to work(ing out), got a contact for paleo meals, and got to spend some good time with my newest CrossFit family at Unlocked.
I don't toss that family around lightly... tonight after the workout, just hanging out with the coaches, talking, watching them put up more new things (they JUST got a brand new floor yesterday), listening, learning... it's a great experience, and it's knowledge I need for when I open a box. As we were walking out, they even asked if I wanted to go with them to dinner... some Mexican food. I love me some Mexican food, but I couldn't do that, I'm committed (remember). These people are as close to me as my CF Diamond State family as they can be, without being Diamond Staters. Those of you that don't know... thats some high praise from me, cause I love me some CFDS... more than I love most things (include Mexican food). Brings me to the sad realization that one day, I'll be done in DE, probably for good... that'll be a sad day, but we're not there yet. Thats at least in June... I think... which will have me at over the 1 year mark of doing CrossFit... so, I'll celebrate today, and let tomorrow worry about itself.
Thanks again CFDS for pointing me to these great great peeps, once again I'm in your debt. Now I really need to get to bed, I've got an upgrade going live right now, and I need to be in the office in ... ug 5 hours. Cheers!
Flew in last night, so I got plenty of sleep. Woke up fairly refreshed (for not having a fan). Got to the office and ... fast forward.... ate a salad with chicken (and some dressing, so paleo...ish)... fast forward.... and I'm out. Now if only work really was that fast...
Ran to the hotel, got changed, and off to Unlocked. Then, the work I've been dreading since yesterday was upon me. Dreading this workout because it's some of the hardest stuff for me. Getting on, then off the ground. Still a lot of Dan to pick up. Wont bother to tell you what the RX was, but I'll tell you what I did tonight. 21 burpees... Got them in 3 minutes, which I t don't know if thats a PR in and of itself, but it felt like it... then it was on to the 15-12-9-6-3 of situps, and then 95lb push press. 95 may have been too heavy, because for a few sets, it was a super struggle. I mean I broke up the 9's and 6's...
Awesome, gassed, ready to move on...but wait, there is more. This set was 12-9-6-3 of OHS and situps. This was supposed to be at 95 lbs. No effing way. Thats is too close to my 1RM... and thats too many reps, I stripped that bad boy down to just the bar and scaled it. Had to. I struggled with that OHS for the first set. Had to set the bar down, it was awful. THEN, second set, it dawns on me. I'm not pushing my butt back, and then lowering... Did the rest of those unbroken... now we're cooking. Done, now what? Oh yeah, cashing out with 21 more burpees... FML. I wanted so badly to jump up for some of these, but I couldn't get it together. I stood up/stepped up for almost...if not every one of these. But I did them.
25:36... no record.. in fact, it was scaled and still almost 10 minutes longer than the people I want to emulate. I want to be there today, but I need to appreciate the journey...and frankly the journey is what I'm chronicling now... can't just skip to the last page, gotta build up to it.
Alright, time for some searing confessions. I'm a dirty cheater. Not so much with the workouts, I scale as I need to, as noted above, but I try not to cut corners. My man Dave Pulcinella is one of the most honest guys in CrossFit. Dude does every stinking rep. Did them all tonight. I beat Dave by about a minute, and that was with my numbers scaled. Like I said though, not talking about that cheating tonight. Talking about that dietary stuff.
I'm guilty.
There, that actually feels a bit better. No sugar coating, no "eh, I mostly ate right", no, I've been a dirty cheat. Now, last week doesn't count, I was sickly... there is a bit of distinction there. But other than that, I've been awful. First 3 months, lose 30 lbs, next 3 months only lose 10... yeah, you tell me. And it's not like I've plateaued... and I haven't missed a lot of time at the box, that leaves the obvious. So there, I said it, I've admitted it, and I can tell you I'm moving on. I've got big, harry, audacious goals, and the last 3 months have shown me how not to get them.
Doing Lurong, a squat cycle, and regular WODs, while traveling, was clearly too much for me... and so after 2 weeks I ditched the squat cycle, after another 2 weeks, ditched Lurong... and still I fell. I'm telling you now I've turned the corner. Happily. I've made it my goal this week to not eat a single stitch of "bread". No breading on the chicken, no sandwiches, no pasta, nada. Today was a great first step. What makes today even better, I just found out that one of Unlockeds athletes cooks Paleo meals for folks!!! Think they said...well, forget the price, it's reasonable, and it covers me after the WOD... no temptations on the way home. Can't tell you how awesome this is. Clearly a sign... or something.
So thats why I'm having an awesome Monday. Got some Progenex, recommitted to a paleo(ish) lifestyle, back to work(ing out), got a contact for paleo meals, and got to spend some good time with my newest CrossFit family at Unlocked.
I don't toss that family around lightly... tonight after the workout, just hanging out with the coaches, talking, watching them put up more new things (they JUST got a brand new floor yesterday), listening, learning... it's a great experience, and it's knowledge I need for when I open a box. As we were walking out, they even asked if I wanted to go with them to dinner... some Mexican food. I love me some Mexican food, but I couldn't do that, I'm committed (remember). These people are as close to me as my CF Diamond State family as they can be, without being Diamond Staters. Those of you that don't know... thats some high praise from me, cause I love me some CFDS... more than I love most things (include Mexican food). Brings me to the sad realization that one day, I'll be done in DE, probably for good... that'll be a sad day, but we're not there yet. Thats at least in June... I think... which will have me at over the 1 year mark of doing CrossFit... so, I'll celebrate today, and let tomorrow worry about itself.
Thanks again CFDS for pointing me to these great great peeps, once again I'm in your debt. Now I really need to get to bed, I've got an upgrade going live right now, and I need to be in the office in ... ug 5 hours. Cheers!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Being Sick Sucks
I know right, revelation of your life right there. Just a short update on the week/weekend. Last week was rough after that power clean PR. Found out I had strep throat, got meds for it, got sick as !@$%. Well, I didn't get THAT sick, but it was enough to keep me from working out, or wanting to workout, or really wanting to do anything other than sleep. Ate terrible all week, slept poorly for a lot of it as well... missed my flight on Thursday, so had another night of no good sleep... Really it's been a lot of woe is me type of things...
Good news though, next week is a new week, and tomorrow is a new day. "A healthy lifestyle begins with your next meal". True words from my friend Brian Polla, and I look forward to getting back on track.
Back in Delaware next week, looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. Lots to see, do, and catch up on. Unlocked will be getting their new floors put in while I'm in the air, and I can't them or the rest of the changes from this weekend. Exciting times. Also get a chance to get back to those oh so awesome folks up at CFDS. Was a little bummed I couldn't catch up with them last week, but maybe this week will give me a trip or two up there as well.
Until then...
Good news though, next week is a new week, and tomorrow is a new day. "A healthy lifestyle begins with your next meal". True words from my friend Brian Polla, and I look forward to getting back on track.
Back in Delaware next week, looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. Lots to see, do, and catch up on. Unlocked will be getting their new floors put in while I'm in the air, and I can't them or the rest of the changes from this weekend. Exciting times. Also get a chance to get back to those oh so awesome folks up at CFDS. Was a little bummed I couldn't catch up with them last week, but maybe this week will give me a trip or two up there as well.
Until then...
Monday, November 10, 2014
Gains is gains
I want to thank Jeff Peet, tonight's coach... my coach. Twice he came over during the WOD and gave me some coaching, and twice I didn't fully do what he said. It wasn't because I didn't want to, I tried, but it was the heat of the moment... let me take a step back, catch you up.
Had a rough weekend, woke up early Friday morning to what felt like a... idk it was just a feeling in the back of my throat, and that feeling has always been synonymous with getting sick. !@#$ Sure enough, woke up later, and it hurt to swallow. Lucky me, going to see my PCP later, get this checked out...well, went for thyroid stuff, asked about this as an after thought. Got tested for strep as an afterthought (almost forgot to ask)... never heard back now that I think about it. Spent most of Saturday in a Nyquil induced coma. Sunday was better, but I wasn't 100%. Brings us to Monday...
I wasn't sure I was going to workout tonight. During my flights out here, my inner ear wouldn't make it back to sea level pressurization. Happened both plane rides. Everything sounded/felt muted. It took some monster yawns driving to DE before I felt close to normal. This stuff hurt, like I was snapping rubber bands off my eardrums. So... apparently I still have a little something going on. 5:15pm hit, I left work, one thing on my mind, getting a good workout in, gunk or not.
Had a snafu at the hotel checkin, printer problems. Finally got in, got changed and we're rolling... late. 22 minutes to make what is normally a 25 minute drive. Normally not a problem, but this is still that time of day when people are going home, and it's non-daylight savings time (aka it's dark). Wouldn't you know it, everyone and their mother is driving 5 UNDER the speed limit. Can't make up a stitch of ground anywhere. Late. Again. !@#$!@#
Missed the entire warmup... well, the stuff that would warm me up. Got there in time for some KB warmups. 3 rounds of 8 sumo high pulls, lunges, swings, and squats. All with a heavy KB. Being as I'm not exactly ready, I grabbed what I think is a 44lb KB. Being a warmup, I'll admit it, I didn't hit 8 every time... I was already feeling this spongyness... stuff in my chest, so I didn't want to pus it too hard.
Strength piece was a 1RM of the power clean. Having just hit a 10lb PR for my squat clean, I was hoping to at least do something heavy. I know most people squat clean more than they power clean, I'm not sure that holds true for me. I went heavy, heavier than with my squat clean, and wanted to call it done, but Jeff pushed me a little, said try one more. I wasn't sure I could add another 10 lbs, so I added 5, hit it, albeit with a slightly bowed back. Added it up, 180. Had to check the books... 30lb PR. :D Now I just want to hit that last 20, get another lift over that 200lbs goal.
That was all the fun I had tonight. The METCON... was unpleasant. It hurt my feelings. 21-15-9 of front squats and box jump overs. I was given the goal of 10 minutes. The RX was 135...and had I done it, I'd have been closer to 15 minutes I think... maybe. I dont know, but I went with 95lbs, I wanted to hit the sub 10 minute goal. Pulled out an 18" box for the step overs (one day I swear I'll do box jumps...). Ali asks me "you ready for this". I give her the same sheepish answer I give everyone... no. ROFL. But it's the truth.
We start, and I really wanted to hit 21 straight... or 15... or at least 10. I went fast, I hit 15, barely. Dropped the bar. My quads are warm at this point. I get 5 more, Jeff comes over, tells me not to worry about the depth, keep the chest high. I nod my understanding. I know what he wants, but dammit if it isn't hard to do. Finish the 21, and my quads are on fire. These 18" box step ups are killer. I got 10 done in the space Ali got 20 jump overs done. Ridiculous. I'm trying to push my pace, I went for number 11, and I could barely get my foot on top of the box, let alone get the rest of myself up there. Fried. Thankfully, there is a 12" box nearby, I finish the 21 on there, and I'm sucking air. I don't want no mo. Momma, make that bad man stop.
The next set was "easier"... only because it was only 15, and not 21. Did the squats 5-5-5, Jeff said something from over my shoulder, I know I nodded... I know I tried... "keep that chest up!". The step overs went without incident, I didn't fall over, but by the time I was done, the only thing I was saying was "9 more 9 more 9 more" in my head. I was going to do 3-3-3, but I did 4 at first. Got 4 more. Then Jeff is standing in front of me. This is the third time. LOL. I'm so tired, I'm broke, I'm beaten. 1 left. I listen to Jeff, pant my acknowledgement, and then did what was probably the best front squat of the night. I think Jeff was expecting more, but that's 9, ain't got no mo. The step overs were all autopilot. I couldn't feel my legs, I was going as fast as I could without falling over. DONE.
9:30.
Made my time. It wasn't easy, sure wasn't pretty, but I did it. Call this a win. Legs were shaking for the next 15 minutes, no mater what I did. I can't recall this level of... whatever it is, since the first days of squats. Still, I'm happy I went, really happy with the PR, and happy it's over.
Alright, it's taken me 3 hours to write this... watching a movie. Tomorrow... today is Veterans Day. Go out and celebrate with a vet, and remember why this day is around. If you can get to a box, they're likely doing a hero WOD of some sort, give it your best.
Had a rough weekend, woke up early Friday morning to what felt like a... idk it was just a feeling in the back of my throat, and that feeling has always been synonymous with getting sick. !@#$ Sure enough, woke up later, and it hurt to swallow. Lucky me, going to see my PCP later, get this checked out...well, went for thyroid stuff, asked about this as an after thought. Got tested for strep as an afterthought (almost forgot to ask)... never heard back now that I think about it. Spent most of Saturday in a Nyquil induced coma. Sunday was better, but I wasn't 100%. Brings us to Monday...
I wasn't sure I was going to workout tonight. During my flights out here, my inner ear wouldn't make it back to sea level pressurization. Happened both plane rides. Everything sounded/felt muted. It took some monster yawns driving to DE before I felt close to normal. This stuff hurt, like I was snapping rubber bands off my eardrums. So... apparently I still have a little something going on. 5:15pm hit, I left work, one thing on my mind, getting a good workout in, gunk or not.
Had a snafu at the hotel checkin, printer problems. Finally got in, got changed and we're rolling... late. 22 minutes to make what is normally a 25 minute drive. Normally not a problem, but this is still that time of day when people are going home, and it's non-daylight savings time (aka it's dark). Wouldn't you know it, everyone and their mother is driving 5 UNDER the speed limit. Can't make up a stitch of ground anywhere. Late. Again. !@#$!@#
Missed the entire warmup... well, the stuff that would warm me up. Got there in time for some KB warmups. 3 rounds of 8 sumo high pulls, lunges, swings, and squats. All with a heavy KB. Being as I'm not exactly ready, I grabbed what I think is a 44lb KB. Being a warmup, I'll admit it, I didn't hit 8 every time... I was already feeling this spongyness... stuff in my chest, so I didn't want to pus it too hard.
Strength piece was a 1RM of the power clean. Having just hit a 10lb PR for my squat clean, I was hoping to at least do something heavy. I know most people squat clean more than they power clean, I'm not sure that holds true for me. I went heavy, heavier than with my squat clean, and wanted to call it done, but Jeff pushed me a little, said try one more. I wasn't sure I could add another 10 lbs, so I added 5, hit it, albeit with a slightly bowed back. Added it up, 180. Had to check the books... 30lb PR. :D Now I just want to hit that last 20, get another lift over that 200lbs goal.
That was all the fun I had tonight. The METCON... was unpleasant. It hurt my feelings. 21-15-9 of front squats and box jump overs. I was given the goal of 10 minutes. The RX was 135...and had I done it, I'd have been closer to 15 minutes I think... maybe. I dont know, but I went with 95lbs, I wanted to hit the sub 10 minute goal. Pulled out an 18" box for the step overs (one day I swear I'll do box jumps...). Ali asks me "you ready for this". I give her the same sheepish answer I give everyone... no. ROFL. But it's the truth.
We start, and I really wanted to hit 21 straight... or 15... or at least 10. I went fast, I hit 15, barely. Dropped the bar. My quads are warm at this point. I get 5 more, Jeff comes over, tells me not to worry about the depth, keep the chest high. I nod my understanding. I know what he wants, but dammit if it isn't hard to do. Finish the 21, and my quads are on fire. These 18" box step ups are killer. I got 10 done in the space Ali got 20 jump overs done. Ridiculous. I'm trying to push my pace, I went for number 11, and I could barely get my foot on top of the box, let alone get the rest of myself up there. Fried. Thankfully, there is a 12" box nearby, I finish the 21 on there, and I'm sucking air. I don't want no mo. Momma, make that bad man stop.
The next set was "easier"... only because it was only 15, and not 21. Did the squats 5-5-5, Jeff said something from over my shoulder, I know I nodded... I know I tried... "keep that chest up!". The step overs went without incident, I didn't fall over, but by the time I was done, the only thing I was saying was "9 more 9 more 9 more" in my head. I was going to do 3-3-3, but I did 4 at first. Got 4 more. Then Jeff is standing in front of me. This is the third time. LOL. I'm so tired, I'm broke, I'm beaten. 1 left. I listen to Jeff, pant my acknowledgement, and then did what was probably the best front squat of the night. I think Jeff was expecting more, but that's 9, ain't got no mo. The step overs were all autopilot. I couldn't feel my legs, I was going as fast as I could without falling over. DONE.
9:30.
Made my time. It wasn't easy, sure wasn't pretty, but I did it. Call this a win. Legs were shaking for the next 15 minutes, no mater what I did. I can't recall this level of... whatever it is, since the first days of squats. Still, I'm happy I went, really happy with the PR, and happy it's over.
Alright, it's taken me 3 hours to write this... watching a movie. Tomorrow... today is Veterans Day. Go out and celebrate with a vet, and remember why this day is around. If you can get to a box, they're likely doing a hero WOD of some sort, give it your best.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
I HATE being late to things...
Granted I left right on the razors edge to be on time, but the slowdowns in rush hour were ridiculous. Let me pose a question to you. Who's the bigger dick, the guy driving in a fast car who got pulled over, or the cop who pulled him over during rush hour. I couldn't decide who I was more irritated with. It didn't help that he pulled him over...or that the guy pulled over, just past the crest of the hill. So the initial people coming over the hill probably slammed on their brakes... part in shock, and part to rubber neck... no one has ever seen anyone else pulled over before right?
Sorry for the brief tangent. That's why I was late, it frustrates me.
It was ok though, we weren't doing a heavy WOD that needed me to be there on time (not an excuse, just saying it could have been worse). And like I've written in here before... be on time. It's just polite, good box etiquette, and... yeah.
Bench Press. Week two of the series of 5-4-3-2-1 RM's of the movements. I'm still sore from Tuesday and Wednesday, and I didn't really want to go, felt borderline fatigued... caught me during the METCON too.
The 4RM was good, not great. I equaled what I did for the 5 as far as weight goes (165 for both, that I remember anyway). I miiiiight have gotten 175, I put it on the bar, but I lollygagged with getting a spot...and I was pretty shaky with the 165, so I stopped there. There are some days I just don't feel all the strong, and today was one of them.
The METCON today was a 3 movement set with 30 seconds rest between them, for 3 rounds. Ring rows, rest, thrusters, rest, double unders rest, rinse, repeat. This is where the fatigue was kicking in. I didn't have much fun. The ring rows were ok at first, but I've lost whatever form I thought I had, I think the break in them I had over the past month +... idk, maybe my concentration is just broke when it comes to them. *shrugh* Moved on to the thrusters. Tried to go RX at 95lbs. After 3, I asked the coach to bring me some 15lb plates, it was just too much for me to do quickly. The second and third rounds I was able to double my first round... so it was probably the right call. The DU's... I think I jumped more singles, and better singles today than any other time. Maybe I found a better rope? Reminds me, I STILL need to buy one...
Ended up with 183. I wasn't happy with the number to begin with, I knew it wasn't a great effort, but it was what I had for the day. Then I got to the whiteboard. Next lowest person had over 300. Think everyone did singles... I'm not going to say I was crushed, but it made an already "meh" performance seem that much worse. If I haven't told you, or you're just getting started with this blog, I hate losing. A lot more than I hate being late. I'd say I hate losing more than I like winning... if that makes sense.... so seeing myself get crushed by some housewives... gutted.
But I'm ok. Really.
I'm getting better, and I know next time I'm going to do even better, and soon, I'll have a 183, but it will be RX with double unders. Tomorrows WOD is up, it's a recovery day... I can probably do that at home. Call it 50/50 me going up to the box tomorrow.
Since I'm looking at moving, I've been shopping boxes... and I'm super disappointed with the first one I looked at. I don't know about the community, but the programming is suspect to me. I read this article about just that like 4 days ago, and I can't find it now to link it... but it talked about how people are now starting to care a bit more about programming than just community. I think I'm falling in this boat a bit. I love community, don't get that wrong, but 6 months in, programming means a lot more to me now than it did in the beginning. I've been spoiled with really solid programming from my first 3 boxes, so I don't want to mess that up with what will be #4. Know what I mean?
Sorry for the brief tangent. That's why I was late, it frustrates me.
It was ok though, we weren't doing a heavy WOD that needed me to be there on time (not an excuse, just saying it could have been worse). And like I've written in here before... be on time. It's just polite, good box etiquette, and... yeah.
Bench Press. Week two of the series of 5-4-3-2-1 RM's of the movements. I'm still sore from Tuesday and Wednesday, and I didn't really want to go, felt borderline fatigued... caught me during the METCON too.
The 4RM was good, not great. I equaled what I did for the 5 as far as weight goes (165 for both, that I remember anyway). I miiiiight have gotten 175, I put it on the bar, but I lollygagged with getting a spot...and I was pretty shaky with the 165, so I stopped there. There are some days I just don't feel all the strong, and today was one of them.
The METCON today was a 3 movement set with 30 seconds rest between them, for 3 rounds. Ring rows, rest, thrusters, rest, double unders rest, rinse, repeat. This is where the fatigue was kicking in. I didn't have much fun. The ring rows were ok at first, but I've lost whatever form I thought I had, I think the break in them I had over the past month +... idk, maybe my concentration is just broke when it comes to them. *shrugh* Moved on to the thrusters. Tried to go RX at 95lbs. After 3, I asked the coach to bring me some 15lb plates, it was just too much for me to do quickly. The second and third rounds I was able to double my first round... so it was probably the right call. The DU's... I think I jumped more singles, and better singles today than any other time. Maybe I found a better rope? Reminds me, I STILL need to buy one...
Ended up with 183. I wasn't happy with the number to begin with, I knew it wasn't a great effort, but it was what I had for the day. Then I got to the whiteboard. Next lowest person had over 300. Think everyone did singles... I'm not going to say I was crushed, but it made an already "meh" performance seem that much worse. If I haven't told you, or you're just getting started with this blog, I hate losing. A lot more than I hate being late. I'd say I hate losing more than I like winning... if that makes sense.... so seeing myself get crushed by some housewives... gutted.
But I'm ok. Really.
I'm getting better, and I know next time I'm going to do even better, and soon, I'll have a 183, but it will be RX with double unders. Tomorrows WOD is up, it's a recovery day... I can probably do that at home. Call it 50/50 me going up to the box tomorrow.
Since I'm looking at moving, I've been shopping boxes... and I'm super disappointed with the first one I looked at. I don't know about the community, but the programming is suspect to me. I read this article about just that like 4 days ago, and I can't find it now to link it... but it talked about how people are now starting to care a bit more about programming than just community. I think I'm falling in this boat a bit. I love community, don't get that wrong, but 6 months in, programming means a lot more to me now than it did in the beginning. I've been spoiled with really solid programming from my first 3 boxes, so I don't want to mess that up with what will be #4. Know what I mean?
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
FINALLY got that bastard!
YES I DID! Wait, what bastard are we talking about here? Good question!
Third time was the charm, and I finally got the squat clean PR I thought I had not once, but two other times. It was pretty easy too... could have done more, but had problems. Lemmie 'splain.
Obviously we did squat cleans (or just cleans if you prefer). The goal was to work to a heavy. My goal was to hit 155. Worked up to it easily enough. Got to 145 pretty quick, and did 145 pretty easily. So easily in fact, that I decided to go up not 10, but 20 lbs. I tried to hit this 3 times... and three times I got this over my counter-ballast (aka my stomach). Second time I had this up to upper chest. Pull is good, pull is strong, pull is high enough... mind is weak. For some reason that heavy weight psyched me out. 3 times in fact. Adrian was a little baffled... he's like "you're pulling it to your chest" and then a shrug. I know it's mental... this sucks.
So...I back it down to 155. Next pull, nailed it. It wasn't much different than the 165, or the 145, but I hit it. I didn't quite throw the weights down, wanted to, but I did drop it with some satisfaction afterwards (thinking of you Jeff Newton).
For the AMRAP, it was something we'd done previously. 5 minute capacity test we did about a month ago. 5 cleans, 10 bar over burpees. I didn't make any progress sadly. Still an even 2 rounds... I had a little left though, I had my hands on the bar at time this time... not much, but it's somewhat measurable right :P?
My convert did an "each one reach one", and got his brand new bride to come to the box too. Happy for them, hope they make it through bootcamp and have a long, happy, healthy journey together.
Not much else... tired, a bit sore, and my mouth hurts... I'm done with this dentist stuff for a while.
Third time was the charm, and I finally got the squat clean PR I thought I had not once, but two other times. It was pretty easy too... could have done more, but had problems. Lemmie 'splain.
Obviously we did squat cleans (or just cleans if you prefer). The goal was to work to a heavy. My goal was to hit 155. Worked up to it easily enough. Got to 145 pretty quick, and did 145 pretty easily. So easily in fact, that I decided to go up not 10, but 20 lbs. I tried to hit this 3 times... and three times I got this over my counter-ballast (aka my stomach). Second time I had this up to upper chest. Pull is good, pull is strong, pull is high enough... mind is weak. For some reason that heavy weight psyched me out. 3 times in fact. Adrian was a little baffled... he's like "you're pulling it to your chest" and then a shrug. I know it's mental... this sucks.
So...I back it down to 155. Next pull, nailed it. It wasn't much different than the 165, or the 145, but I hit it. I didn't quite throw the weights down, wanted to, but I did drop it with some satisfaction afterwards (thinking of you Jeff Newton).
For the AMRAP, it was something we'd done previously. 5 minute capacity test we did about a month ago. 5 cleans, 10 bar over burpees. I didn't make any progress sadly. Still an even 2 rounds... I had a little left though, I had my hands on the bar at time this time... not much, but it's somewhat measurable right :P?
My convert did an "each one reach one", and got his brand new bride to come to the box too. Happy for them, hope they make it through bootcamp and have a long, happy, healthy journey together.
Not much else... tired, a bit sore, and my mouth hurts... I'm done with this dentist stuff for a while.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
4 notches and hurt feelings.
Been a good couple of days man. Just got done with a WOD, and my shoulders are zapped. I'm still fighting this rhomboid issue on the left side, but I'm trying to work through it. Did some an AMRAP of WB's and KB's... it hurt my feelings. Actually, the first set of WB's hurt the shoulder, but after that it was just pain and hurt feelings. Strength was a 4RM of the strict press. I ended that up with 125. Sure it was a PR for a 4RM.... but I don't know that I'm going to keep strict tabs on that stuff.... Anyway, my shoulders hurt.
What I really wanted to chat about today was my first convert. Hehehehe. Got a good buddy going through EST's first month of bootcamp. He started last night. Couldn't finish the WOD....and that bothered him. I see it stoking a fire in him, it's a good thing. Hopefully have more things to say about him in the coming weeks.
More news... Lost some more weight. Not much, my poor eating habits have indeed slowed me down. Gone is the 10lbs per month... at 6 months I'm only down about 40lbs... so I've lost about 10 pounds in the last 3 months... but hey, 40 lbs in 6 months isn't anything to be too sad at. Lost opportunity sucks, but hey, bright side is there still was some progress.
More news on top of the other news.... Down 4 notches on the belt....next change is either going to be a new belt, or I have to start making holes. Another good problem to have.
Been through a rough 30 hours... not feeling well, funeral for an adopted mom/aunt/sister, first WOD back in 5 days... I'm tired, it's time for bed. Tomorrow is cleans and another shot at a benchmark AMRAP for a month or so ago. Expecting to see at least a little progress ;)
What I really wanted to chat about today was my first convert. Hehehehe. Got a good buddy going through EST's first month of bootcamp. He started last night. Couldn't finish the WOD....and that bothered him. I see it stoking a fire in him, it's a good thing. Hopefully have more things to say about him in the coming weeks.
More news... Lost some more weight. Not much, my poor eating habits have indeed slowed me down. Gone is the 10lbs per month... at 6 months I'm only down about 40lbs... so I've lost about 10 pounds in the last 3 months... but hey, 40 lbs in 6 months isn't anything to be too sad at. Lost opportunity sucks, but hey, bright side is there still was some progress.
More news on top of the other news.... Down 4 notches on the belt....next change is either going to be a new belt, or I have to start making holes. Another good problem to have.
Been through a rough 30 hours... not feeling well, funeral for an adopted mom/aunt/sister, first WOD back in 5 days... I'm tired, it's time for bed. Tomorrow is cleans and another shot at a benchmark AMRAP for a month or so ago. Expecting to see at least a little progress ;)
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Second Rx WOD. Yay!
Second WOD with a PR, and being RX. I could really get used to this... it's a pretty darn good feeling. I don't have a whole lot of time, I need to get some of that highly valued sleep I'm always ranting about. The WOD today was bench press for a max set of 5, which I hadn't done before...so really, PR sounds a bit presumptuous....at the same time, the weight I used was just 20lbs shy of the last PR I have written down. :D Me thinks I'll smash that one too. Actually, I know I will. EST seems to be on a simple strength cycle. 5 rep max of both the squats, and the bench, and there are other things that I wasn't able to get to this week... So I wouldn't be surprised to see it drop to 4 next week. In those famous Bart Scott words, CANT WAIT.
The METCON was also pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. On a two minute running clock (2 minutes work, 2 minutes rest) we were doing a 300m row and 95lb power snatch. 4 rounds. I was a bit lazy tonight, I left my "in the back" with other newer people, so I'd have a 5 second walk to it, a chance to catch my breath... needed it. Went 5-4-4-4 for my reps... Probably could have done it as 6-5-5-5 had it been closer. Though, saying all of that, I'll say that my scap/rhomboid shoulder issue is better...but still was an issue when I arrived. That and my shoulder (on the outside... like where shoulder pads would be), felt a bit funny with the snatches, like maybe it was a bit too much weight to do... *shrug* No idea.
Parting thoughts, someone suggested I go to an upcoming comp... I'm juggling the idea. Might be worth trying...but to be honest, I want to win...or be top 10, and I don't feel I'm close. Maybe when I'm nearer the top of the box on regular WODs.
Other though, I'm looking at getting my body fat and everything measured in a Bod Pod. This isn't the place, but it's a link to what I'm looking at. http://www.nifs.org/fitness-center/fitness-assessments/bodpod I'm getting a blood draw tomorrow, so I'll hop on the scale and see what my latest transgressions have earned me. I'm expecting a small loss...and I'll take that as a slap in the face... like a wake up signal... time to get back on track cupcake.
The METCON was also pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. On a two minute running clock (2 minutes work, 2 minutes rest) we were doing a 300m row and 95lb power snatch. 4 rounds. I was a bit lazy tonight, I left my "in the back" with other newer people, so I'd have a 5 second walk to it, a chance to catch my breath... needed it. Went 5-4-4-4 for my reps... Probably could have done it as 6-5-5-5 had it been closer. Though, saying all of that, I'll say that my scap/rhomboid shoulder issue is better...but still was an issue when I arrived. That and my shoulder (on the outside... like where shoulder pads would be), felt a bit funny with the snatches, like maybe it was a bit too much weight to do... *shrug* No idea.
Parting thoughts, someone suggested I go to an upcoming comp... I'm juggling the idea. Might be worth trying...but to be honest, I want to win...or be top 10, and I don't feel I'm close. Maybe when I'm nearer the top of the box on regular WODs.
Other though, I'm looking at getting my body fat and everything measured in a Bod Pod. This isn't the place, but it's a link to what I'm looking at. http://www.nifs.org/fitness-center/fitness-assessments/bodpod I'm getting a blood draw tomorrow, so I'll hop on the scale and see what my latest transgressions have earned me. I'm expecting a small loss...and I'll take that as a slap in the face... like a wake up signal... time to get back on track cupcake.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Don't Cheat Yourself
Had a great workout tonight, glad I went. I went and got myself injured over the weekend. How did you do that you ask? One of the silliest ways possible. The older game called Rock Band. WHAT?! Yeah, thats what I said too. Played it late...or early Sunday morning...hadn't played in a while, figured I'd fire it up. Banging away on the plastic drums (looked something like this), bobbing my head to the music... apparently pulled something. Woke up that morning and it was evident damage had been done. Sore in my shoulder... carried that pain all day yesterday, and through work today. Couldn't wait to get to the box to lax ball this out.
Got their on time... wanted to be there early, but construction near work made that a pipe dream. Got stretched out, cut some of that short, but I wanted to spend some time putting the hurt to my shoulder. Got that done and got to the strength piece, which was a heavy, if not new 5RM for the back squat. I worked up to it slow, never really feeling too stained. I stopped at the 4th weight increase at 175. I could have done more... but I didn't want to be behind the group... and would have been had I kept going. Something to push a bit next time.. 215 is the 1RM that I last did. I'm pretty sure I could add at least 30 over to that now, can't wait to test that.
METCON was nice.... I'm still slow, but I'm getting faster. 3RFT of 500m rowing, 15 hand release pushups, and 25 KB swings. I went light on the KB's...lighter than the 70lbs Rx anyway. The first round took me an even 5 minutes, which surprised me a little, I didn't think it would take me that long. I didn't lose much pace on that through the other two. Finished really tired at 15:52. Looking forward to hitting this one again someday.
Now, why the title don't' cheat yourself? There were several parts here where I wanted to cheat... almost convinced myself to do it. The squats... no one was watching me, I could have done 4 instead of 5. After that, we actually had weighted good mornings.... could have taken a few off there. Hand release pushups, KB swings. Opportunity to get a better time was everywhere... but is that getting me anywhere? Probably not. My #1 competitor is myself, and cheating to get a better time doesn't do me any favors with getting better, and it also doesn't make "the winner" of the me vs me battle a very good champion... If cheating isn't going to make me better, it's not going to make you better. Taylor put of effing 351 or some such at our spaced out Fight Gone Bad. Now she's pretty close to, if not actually an elite level female competitor. There is no way I'm going to make up any ground on that number if I'm cutting corners in everyday workouts. Know what I'm saying?
Last thing I want to make a comment on is my eating. This weekend was good, but bad... but having Brian ask... or the specter of Brian asking me what I ate... is doing me worlds of good in keeping on the level. I avoided the concourses at two airports because I couldn't get anything healthy. I did have some Hawaiian bun sandwich that I got in business class on the last leg home, but that was 200 calories vs 1200... Baby steps.
Got their on time... wanted to be there early, but construction near work made that a pipe dream. Got stretched out, cut some of that short, but I wanted to spend some time putting the hurt to my shoulder. Got that done and got to the strength piece, which was a heavy, if not new 5RM for the back squat. I worked up to it slow, never really feeling too stained. I stopped at the 4th weight increase at 175. I could have done more... but I didn't want to be behind the group... and would have been had I kept going. Something to push a bit next time.. 215 is the 1RM that I last did. I'm pretty sure I could add at least 30 over to that now, can't wait to test that.
METCON was nice.... I'm still slow, but I'm getting faster. 3RFT of 500m rowing, 15 hand release pushups, and 25 KB swings. I went light on the KB's...lighter than the 70lbs Rx anyway. The first round took me an even 5 minutes, which surprised me a little, I didn't think it would take me that long. I didn't lose much pace on that through the other two. Finished really tired at 15:52. Looking forward to hitting this one again someday.
Now, why the title don't' cheat yourself? There were several parts here where I wanted to cheat... almost convinced myself to do it. The squats... no one was watching me, I could have done 4 instead of 5. After that, we actually had weighted good mornings.... could have taken a few off there. Hand release pushups, KB swings. Opportunity to get a better time was everywhere... but is that getting me anywhere? Probably not. My #1 competitor is myself, and cheating to get a better time doesn't do me any favors with getting better, and it also doesn't make "the winner" of the me vs me battle a very good champion... If cheating isn't going to make me better, it's not going to make you better. Taylor put of effing 351 or some such at our spaced out Fight Gone Bad. Now she's pretty close to, if not actually an elite level female competitor. There is no way I'm going to make up any ground on that number if I'm cutting corners in everyday workouts. Know what I'm saying?
Last thing I want to make a comment on is my eating. This weekend was good, but bad... but having Brian ask... or the specter of Brian asking me what I ate... is doing me worlds of good in keeping on the level. I avoided the concourses at two airports because I couldn't get anything healthy. I did have some Hawaiian bun sandwich that I got in business class on the last leg home, but that was 200 calories vs 1200... Baby steps.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Sore and loving it
Holy crap I'm sore. I mean I haven't been this sore in months! Those Russian twists and the overhead 20lb situps... my abs are sore. That 53lb KB... my shoulders are sore. I'm beat up... oh, and I attempted a hero WOD tonight.
Late again... I love my job, but not getting a full warmup... those minutes add up. Not to say I'm not getting warmed up, but taking 5-7 minutes vs say 4 for the same warmup... it's just nicer. Ok, so todays Hero WOD is dedicated to U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Aaron N. Holleyman. The workout, like so many other ones, looked pretty solid on paper:
30 Rounds for time of:
5 Wall-Ball Shots, 20#
3 Handstand Push-ups
1 Power Clean, 225#
I thought, heh, I should be able to get this done under 20 minutes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thats what I thought while driving up for the workout. I go to CFDS, asked Gia, whats the average time people have been getting done? I'm expecting something like 15 minutes. She thought about it, tells me 30. THIRTY?! no, surly not. "Hey Andy, how long did this thing take you?" "About 30 minutes". What? Damn! I wasn't expecting this news. My shoulders are still achying... oh boy.
Oh boy was right. The first 10 rounds were rough, but were what I was expecting...and if I could have stayed on that pace, I'd have been done in under 30 minutes. It helps that I was only using a 14lb wall ball, doing regular pushups, and had 135 on the bar.... still, it's not an easy workout. It was somewhere after 12 that I started slowing down and the clock started winning. We were in the 20's when I got to 19. I had just finished the clean... and I was light headed. Holding my breath too much. Told G I was going to rest for a sec (and why), went to a tall box and sat. 30 seconds and the wind was back, so I went to finish 20. Thats when it happened, 2nd wall ball squat, felt this.... twinge? in my knee. Great. I finished the WB's, pushup and clean, and I was done. Not pushing that any further.
So I'm picking up my chips, and I sat down for another second. Looked at the clock, over 30 minutes... 35 minute cap on this WOD. Fuqq it, I'm doing more. I'm not sure why I did it, but I was driven to get more, chips or no chips. I took the liberty of widening that stance by a bit, and did a WB... didn't really feel it, did another, and another. Cool, another set done, pushups done, power clean, done. 2 minutes left. Lets get one more. Same wide stance, I could feel it a little more this time, pushed through it, got it all done, finished the clean with 15 seconds left, good enough. 22.
Not as easy as it looked on paper. I look around, bodies everywhere. It's not just me. Guess that makes me feel better... think I just feel a bit of comradere... we've made it thought another WOD, together. Highlight for me was that Gia and Randi said my lifts were looking "really good". Thats good, I've been trying to make a much better effort with my pull part of the lifts. I'm smiling now... I like hearing that my hard work is paying off... it always does #HWPO
It's a late night, if I was seeing Jeff tomorrow, he'd be telling me that I need to stay on top of that sleep... and he's right, but Jeff is off tomorrow, and I'm not sure where I'm going yet. CFDS is doing Lurong, which I want to get done, but thats another days worth of gas... and Unlocked is doing something that looks like it might get spicy....burpees...same power cleans as tonight... and a wall ball count every minute on the minute while doing burpees and power cleans... yeah, thats going to get spicy. Still, it's almost nice to be here on a Thursday night and have choices... Guess we'll see what happens later this morning.
dw
Late again... I love my job, but not getting a full warmup... those minutes add up. Not to say I'm not getting warmed up, but taking 5-7 minutes vs say 4 for the same warmup... it's just nicer. Ok, so todays Hero WOD is dedicated to U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Aaron N. Holleyman. The workout, like so many other ones, looked pretty solid on paper:
30 Rounds for time of:
5 Wall-Ball Shots, 20#
3 Handstand Push-ups
1 Power Clean, 225#
I thought, heh, I should be able to get this done under 20 minutes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thats what I thought while driving up for the workout. I go to CFDS, asked Gia, whats the average time people have been getting done? I'm expecting something like 15 minutes. She thought about it, tells me 30. THIRTY?! no, surly not. "Hey Andy, how long did this thing take you?" "About 30 minutes". What? Damn! I wasn't expecting this news. My shoulders are still achying... oh boy.
Oh boy was right. The first 10 rounds were rough, but were what I was expecting...and if I could have stayed on that pace, I'd have been done in under 30 minutes. It helps that I was only using a 14lb wall ball, doing regular pushups, and had 135 on the bar.... still, it's not an easy workout. It was somewhere after 12 that I started slowing down and the clock started winning. We were in the 20's when I got to 19. I had just finished the clean... and I was light headed. Holding my breath too much. Told G I was going to rest for a sec (and why), went to a tall box and sat. 30 seconds and the wind was back, so I went to finish 20. Thats when it happened, 2nd wall ball squat, felt this.... twinge? in my knee. Great. I finished the WB's, pushup and clean, and I was done. Not pushing that any further.
So I'm picking up my chips, and I sat down for another second. Looked at the clock, over 30 minutes... 35 minute cap on this WOD. Fuqq it, I'm doing more. I'm not sure why I did it, but I was driven to get more, chips or no chips. I took the liberty of widening that stance by a bit, and did a WB... didn't really feel it, did another, and another. Cool, another set done, pushups done, power clean, done. 2 minutes left. Lets get one more. Same wide stance, I could feel it a little more this time, pushed through it, got it all done, finished the clean with 15 seconds left, good enough. 22.
Not as easy as it looked on paper. I look around, bodies everywhere. It's not just me. Guess that makes me feel better... think I just feel a bit of comradere... we've made it thought another WOD, together. Highlight for me was that Gia and Randi said my lifts were looking "really good". Thats good, I've been trying to make a much better effort with my pull part of the lifts. I'm smiling now... I like hearing that my hard work is paying off... it always does #HWPO
It's a late night, if I was seeing Jeff tomorrow, he'd be telling me that I need to stay on top of that sleep... and he's right, but Jeff is off tomorrow, and I'm not sure where I'm going yet. CFDS is doing Lurong, which I want to get done, but thats another days worth of gas... and Unlocked is doing something that looks like it might get spicy....burpees...same power cleans as tonight... and a wall ball count every minute on the minute while doing burpees and power cleans... yeah, thats going to get spicy. Still, it's almost nice to be here on a Thursday night and have choices... Guess we'll see what happens later this morning.
dw
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Yet another WOD double header.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Ha Ha. Ha. Oh yeah, it's that kind of day.
Actually, it's yet Lutheran double header WOD day. I don't know why I'm
a sucker for punishment, but I am. Now, why all the ha ha's? Great
question, let me tell you. Broke the 100lb barrier on my OHS today. We
were doing a 5x4 and the guy I was working (big crowd this morning at Unlocked) with was taking it easy, and
I couldn't blame him, cause I knew what my 1RM was. I think we got to 80lbs by the time we got up to the 4th set. We still had time on to work on this, and my guy was done, so I decided to go for the 1RM...actually, I went for 10lbs over the 1RM, 105. Did it, easy. Lets add 10 more lbs, make it 115#. Did it again. Still pretty easy. I didn't want to push the time that was left, still had more WOD to do, but I got it. Jeff was coaching today, told me I didn't have to pause so long at the bottom. Not sure why I do that, I think it's stability as much as anything... anyway, thats another PR, thank you.
The Metcon was a Tabata workout. 8 rounds (so 4 minutes) each movement. 20lbs overhead situps, 30lb wall ball slams, 20 lb Russian twists, and KB swings (53lbs). I didn't do a spectacular amount, in fact, I'm pretty sure I was 40 reps less than everyone else. What I did manage to do though, was do that whole workout RX. First one, feels really nice, no small amount of pride in that. Don't know what possessed me to grab that heavy ass KB, but I did it, and I'm glad I did.
Work day was killer, I tried to OD on caffeine, I was tired all day... which made going to the night WOD at CFDS kinda strange. Been dying all day in the office, and now I'm going to go put myself through another set of nonsense. It's ok though, I'm glad I went, got a new accountability partner for my wayward eating habits (thanks Brian, and thanks Charlie for the referral). It's a lot harder to mess up when you know you have someone who's going to ask the touch questions.
So I got to CFDS late (left work late to be fair), did a brief warmup and got to the high hang power snatch. Talk about a difficult movement. The very top of the pull... and you still need to get weight up overhead. I don't think I've done it before. I didn't go very heavy, ended up with 65, did it the required amount, coaches said it was solid, I'll take that. The real reason I'm here is for the WOD... and it's really not something I enjoy doing. At all. At all at all. We've got a 3-6-9-12-15 etc ascending ladder of a calorie row and then box jump burpees. 12 minute time limit. Thats the opportunity for a lot of burpees. I didn't put up stellar numbers, but from what I understand, I hit what was about the box average at 15. I was just shy of finishing the burpees of it, 87 total reps. I'll also take pride in not stopping. Guy next to me sat down a few times on his box, I didn't, so I'll take that as a small win. I was slow, but I didn't stop.
Not doing it again tomorrow. I know I'm likely going to CFDS at night, I've seen Unlockeds WOD... and anything called "Double Dutch" isn't going to be in my wheelhouse. Something like 3 or 4 hundred double unders, plus some other stuff. Thats all I've got, getting to be earlier than normal tonight, have a big day of work tomorrow, not to mention another WOD.
The Metcon was a Tabata workout. 8 rounds (so 4 minutes) each movement. 20lbs overhead situps, 30lb wall ball slams, 20 lb Russian twists, and KB swings (53lbs). I didn't do a spectacular amount, in fact, I'm pretty sure I was 40 reps less than everyone else. What I did manage to do though, was do that whole workout RX. First one, feels really nice, no small amount of pride in that. Don't know what possessed me to grab that heavy ass KB, but I did it, and I'm glad I did.
Work day was killer, I tried to OD on caffeine, I was tired all day... which made going to the night WOD at CFDS kinda strange. Been dying all day in the office, and now I'm going to go put myself through another set of nonsense. It's ok though, I'm glad I went, got a new accountability partner for my wayward eating habits (thanks Brian, and thanks Charlie for the referral). It's a lot harder to mess up when you know you have someone who's going to ask the touch questions.
So I got to CFDS late (left work late to be fair), did a brief warmup and got to the high hang power snatch. Talk about a difficult movement. The very top of the pull... and you still need to get weight up overhead. I don't think I've done it before. I didn't go very heavy, ended up with 65, did it the required amount, coaches said it was solid, I'll take that. The real reason I'm here is for the WOD... and it's really not something I enjoy doing. At all. At all at all. We've got a 3-6-9-12-15 etc ascending ladder of a calorie row and then box jump burpees. 12 minute time limit. Thats the opportunity for a lot of burpees. I didn't put up stellar numbers, but from what I understand, I hit what was about the box average at 15. I was just shy of finishing the burpees of it, 87 total reps. I'll also take pride in not stopping. Guy next to me sat down a few times on his box, I didn't, so I'll take that as a small win. I was slow, but I didn't stop.
Not doing it again tomorrow. I know I'm likely going to CFDS at night, I've seen Unlockeds WOD... and anything called "Double Dutch" isn't going to be in my wheelhouse. Something like 3 or 4 hundred double unders, plus some other stuff. Thats all I've got, getting to be earlier than normal tonight, have a big day of work tomorrow, not to mention another WOD.
Monday, October 20, 2014
5 months in and still going.
I shouldn't be surprised that it's already been 5 months, I mean time keeps marching on. That said, I'm stopping to smell the roses, and take stock of where I'm at, for better or worse.
"Keeping it real"... I've fallen off the paleo wagon, got back on it, fell off again... it's been a rough deal. Doesn't help that I should be doing it 100% correct for Lurong...ug. Failure is a great teacher though, and doing it wrong has show me why I should be doing it right. I've had stomach issues, bloated feeling, I'm slower, don't feel as alert...the list goes on and on. If nothing else, this last week has shown me where I need to get better at outside the box.
The past few weeks have really reinforced what proper eating can do for you. I should have learned that when everything was going good, but instead I jumped off the wagon at the first signs of progress. Momma always said I learned things the hard way, seems she was right. Really, I need to stop talking about how I know it's better... just shut up and do it.
My goals. Still not any significant progress on them. Well, thats not true. I think I can do a single pushup. I was doing some movement a week or so ago, and I was pretty close to doing the pushup then, but it wasn't what I was focused on... I think it would be good for me to go over them once every few months and update them. I did that semi-recently, so I'll leave it for now. At 6 months I should probably re-evaluate, and add the things I want to do now, like get my OHS over 100 this year, push press 200lbs soon, etc etc.
Kinda going back to the eating... I need to hop on the scale more. This once a month thing was great, till it stopped. I haven't seen my PCP for a few months now, and I have no idea where I am on the scale. This bad eating and no accountability on the back end is a dangerous combo. It may not be for everyone, but I feel like I should go weekly, or at least bi-weekly. Closer monitoring is what I need now. "Quick wins" make progressing to that long term goal a little easier.
Alright, enough bad and semi-bad stuff. Good things. I'm stronger by close to double on everything I started on. Body has responded positively to CrossFit, a few issues aside. I see muscles in places I haven't seen muscles in a long time. I move easier. I was flexible before, but I'm more so now. My clothes are looser, some hang off me now, and that gets me positive comments. Good things to have.
Ok, I think thats all the truthiness I have time for this morning. Lets talking WODs. EST celebrated their 1 year on Saturday. FGB was the workout. I went into this thing thinking I was going to smoke my original 207 by 15-20 reps. I was confident this was going to happen. Beyond confident, I was boastful. I fell stronger, I wasn't going to start on the rower like I did the first time, I had a mission. With as many people showing up as we had, we had to have partners to count and go in 2 big groups. I counted the first time, and the guy I was following did 267. He's a tall skinny cat named Brent, and he's pretty good at all the movements. This was when I got my first, "uh... maybe this will be different". Oh buddy it was different.
168 was my number. Maybe it was 167. Idk. It was LOW compared to the first time. I was tired as sheet too. When I got that number, I was a bit upset, how could I drop 50 reps? Figured it out pretty quick. One of the biggest culprits was the fact that the stations were all around EST, which is about 3x the size of Unlocked, maybe even 4x. So there was extra walking. Second, I did plate jumps, then eventually plate step ups when my legs refused to jump any more. Those are a lot easier than box step ups. Ok, thats two big spots. The highpulls were similar, and I'm pretty sure I did more push press than before... that leaves wallballs and the rowers. Well, wallballs were a little better, but the rowing tanked.
I had this grand idea that rowing shouldn't be my first thing, that I was losing too much time starting on the rower. Have to disagree now. The first time, the rower may have cost me 2-4 wallballs each round at most. Doing the rowers last, cost me 10+ calories per event. I remember hitting 26, 24, 22 at Unlocked, here at EST It was like 14, 12, 10. Lesson here, row first. LOL. It also didn't help that someone used the rower I used. They were moving the straps around, and that was extra time lost.
So I didn't do as good from a numbers set, but I'd probably tell you then like now, that I worked harder this time. Brings me to a point I thought about leading this post off with.
CrossFit doesn't get easier, you get better. It's not exactly rocket science to the people who already know. I'd asked several people the question, and I'd gotten answers back, and they fell into three categories. Ready? Yes. No. Maybe. Pretty good right? I've got my own answer now, and thats what I put above. It doesn't get easier, you get better. What does that mean? Glad you asked. For me, it means that if you're progressing, getting better, then you're going to push yourself harder....ergo, it never gets easier, but you're always getting better. Savvy?
Alright, I'm packing up, going to DE a little later in the day than normal, so I've got a plane to catch. Until next time.
"Keeping it real"... I've fallen off the paleo wagon, got back on it, fell off again... it's been a rough deal. Doesn't help that I should be doing it 100% correct for Lurong...ug. Failure is a great teacher though, and doing it wrong has show me why I should be doing it right. I've had stomach issues, bloated feeling, I'm slower, don't feel as alert...the list goes on and on. If nothing else, this last week has shown me where I need to get better at outside the box.
The past few weeks have really reinforced what proper eating can do for you. I should have learned that when everything was going good, but instead I jumped off the wagon at the first signs of progress. Momma always said I learned things the hard way, seems she was right. Really, I need to stop talking about how I know it's better... just shut up and do it.
My goals. Still not any significant progress on them. Well, thats not true. I think I can do a single pushup. I was doing some movement a week or so ago, and I was pretty close to doing the pushup then, but it wasn't what I was focused on... I think it would be good for me to go over them once every few months and update them. I did that semi-recently, so I'll leave it for now. At 6 months I should probably re-evaluate, and add the things I want to do now, like get my OHS over 100 this year, push press 200lbs soon, etc etc.
Kinda going back to the eating... I need to hop on the scale more. This once a month thing was great, till it stopped. I haven't seen my PCP for a few months now, and I have no idea where I am on the scale. This bad eating and no accountability on the back end is a dangerous combo. It may not be for everyone, but I feel like I should go weekly, or at least bi-weekly. Closer monitoring is what I need now. "Quick wins" make progressing to that long term goal a little easier.
Alright, enough bad and semi-bad stuff. Good things. I'm stronger by close to double on everything I started on. Body has responded positively to CrossFit, a few issues aside. I see muscles in places I haven't seen muscles in a long time. I move easier. I was flexible before, but I'm more so now. My clothes are looser, some hang off me now, and that gets me positive comments. Good things to have.
Ok, I think thats all the truthiness I have time for this morning. Lets talking WODs. EST celebrated their 1 year on Saturday. FGB was the workout. I went into this thing thinking I was going to smoke my original 207 by 15-20 reps. I was confident this was going to happen. Beyond confident, I was boastful. I fell stronger, I wasn't going to start on the rower like I did the first time, I had a mission. With as many people showing up as we had, we had to have partners to count and go in 2 big groups. I counted the first time, and the guy I was following did 267. He's a tall skinny cat named Brent, and he's pretty good at all the movements. This was when I got my first, "uh... maybe this will be different". Oh buddy it was different.
168 was my number. Maybe it was 167. Idk. It was LOW compared to the first time. I was tired as sheet too. When I got that number, I was a bit upset, how could I drop 50 reps? Figured it out pretty quick. One of the biggest culprits was the fact that the stations were all around EST, which is about 3x the size of Unlocked, maybe even 4x. So there was extra walking. Second, I did plate jumps, then eventually plate step ups when my legs refused to jump any more. Those are a lot easier than box step ups. Ok, thats two big spots. The highpulls were similar, and I'm pretty sure I did more push press than before... that leaves wallballs and the rowers. Well, wallballs were a little better, but the rowing tanked.
I had this grand idea that rowing shouldn't be my first thing, that I was losing too much time starting on the rower. Have to disagree now. The first time, the rower may have cost me 2-4 wallballs each round at most. Doing the rowers last, cost me 10+ calories per event. I remember hitting 26, 24, 22 at Unlocked, here at EST It was like 14, 12, 10. Lesson here, row first. LOL. It also didn't help that someone used the rower I used. They were moving the straps around, and that was extra time lost.
So I didn't do as good from a numbers set, but I'd probably tell you then like now, that I worked harder this time. Brings me to a point I thought about leading this post off with.
CrossFit doesn't get easier, you get better. It's not exactly rocket science to the people who already know. I'd asked several people the question, and I'd gotten answers back, and they fell into three categories. Ready? Yes. No. Maybe. Pretty good right? I've got my own answer now, and thats what I put above. It doesn't get easier, you get better. What does that mean? Glad you asked. For me, it means that if you're progressing, getting better, then you're going to push yourself harder....ergo, it never gets easier, but you're always getting better. Savvy?
Alright, I'm packing up, going to DE a little later in the day than normal, so I've got a plane to catch. Until next time.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Lurong 6
Busy 18 hours. Man. Did yesterdays WOD at night, then came back for the Lurong this morning. Didn't get enough sleep, but I'm awake and alive, things moving well, good times.
Lets go back to yesterday, pretty quick WOD, the warmup was about as long as the workout. :) Not much to say on the workout, we did a seesaw press that was rough, but fair, and then we did a 4 RFT of 300 m run (row), and 10 alternating KB snatches. Think I came in at 11:17. Beat a guy who's normally on top of things. Felt good to be progressing...just need the weight to come off so I can get to running.
Short and sweet, good workout, but I wasn't super taxed afterwards. It was also nice celebrating with the city over the Royals sweep of the ALCS and finally making it back to the World Series.
This mornings Lurong WOD wasn't too bad either, especially after I found out it wasn't going to be squat snatches, it could be any kind of snatch. Now this isn't going to make me a better athlete, but I'm going to appreciate the fact I don't have to abuse my knees in an AMRAP. It was a descending then ascending ladder 15, 12, 9, etc. Snatches and an ab exercise. I actually did LVL 2 this time, so it was 75lbs and knees to 90degrees (my toes to bar exercise)
Jordan called me out on the knees to 90 bit after the WOD. Said I should probably try the higher bar so I'm focusing more on the movement instead of going right to the ground. It's a good call, something I've thought for a while now, forces me to hold onto the bar longer though, my hands aren't going to like the change. Other than that it was a decent workout with the power snatches. Got further than I thought. Need to work on that snatch form though, when I get in a hurry I do snatch press type things...
Sorry it's quick, I'm inbetween a calls on a day full of them, wanted to get something down, might come back and rework it/add to it.
Lets go back to yesterday, pretty quick WOD, the warmup was about as long as the workout. :) Not much to say on the workout, we did a seesaw press that was rough, but fair, and then we did a 4 RFT of 300 m run (row), and 10 alternating KB snatches. Think I came in at 11:17. Beat a guy who's normally on top of things. Felt good to be progressing...just need the weight to come off so I can get to running.
Short and sweet, good workout, but I wasn't super taxed afterwards. It was also nice celebrating with the city over the Royals sweep of the ALCS and finally making it back to the World Series.
This mornings Lurong WOD wasn't too bad either, especially after I found out it wasn't going to be squat snatches, it could be any kind of snatch. Now this isn't going to make me a better athlete, but I'm going to appreciate the fact I don't have to abuse my knees in an AMRAP. It was a descending then ascending ladder 15, 12, 9, etc. Snatches and an ab exercise. I actually did LVL 2 this time, so it was 75lbs and knees to 90degrees (my toes to bar exercise)
Jordan called me out on the knees to 90 bit after the WOD. Said I should probably try the higher bar so I'm focusing more on the movement instead of going right to the ground. It's a good call, something I've thought for a while now, forces me to hold onto the bar longer though, my hands aren't going to like the change. Other than that it was a decent workout with the power snatches. Got further than I thought. Need to work on that snatch form though, when I get in a hurry I do snatch press type things...
Sorry it's quick, I'm inbetween a calls on a day full of them, wanted to get something down, might come back and rework it/add to it.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Still not a correct PR on that squat clean...
It feels like it's been a long time since I've written in here. A few things have happened, figure this would be a good time to clean out the proverbial closet.
First, my WODs have been suffering, since I last wrote. I only did one WOD, and it was the Lurong WOD.... not only that, but I didn't finish the WOD, tweaked my knee. meh! The quick and dirty is this, wod was 1, 1, then 2, 2, then 3, 3...etc. Squat cleans and then jumping pullups. The cleans were at 55lbs. WAY too light for me, I'm going to start mixing and matching. Squat cleaning essentially a barbell just doesn't work for me. Moving on...
Paleo eating has been dismal. I've had sodas, I've had bread/grain products... it's been a mess. I'm home this week, and I've got salads and veggies galore. Should be able to fix this sooner than later.
It's late (1am), been busy today... trying to get something out here, bear with me.
Tonight's WOD was great... AND I thought I hit a PR....again. This stupid squat clean man. I'm now convinced that the 145 I hit last week was a PR, and that what I had written down was wrong. We worked towards heavy squat clean tonight here at EST. I worked my way up to 45 on each end of the bar, then put on 5 more on each side. In my head, this makes it 155... quick math will tell you that I'm wrong... it's only 145. But I'm like yeah, this is it, this is going to be a PR at 155... I hit it. I'm excited, like yeah, let me add more. So I trade out the 25# on there in the form of two 10's and a 5, and put on a 25. COMPLETELY forgot to add to it. So now there are 2 25's on each side of the bar. I get it, and I get excited again... but the weight hasn't actually changed.... I didn't really figure this out till I was done lifting, had one of those "hey wait a minute..." convos with myself. Sooner or later I'm going to get this stupid 1RM of 155 that I think I keep hitting. CFDS, wanna make that happen Tues or Wed next week? Let me know!
The rest of this WOD was a simple capacity test. One I've someone managed to miss any time it's been around. 5 min AMRAP of 5 squat cleans, 10 bar over burpees. This was challenging after doing squat cleans. I didn't do the RX of 135, I went with 95, and my legs still complained about the weight. Sissy! Anyway, 5 minutes was both an eternity and super quick. I actually did move over the bar rather than stay in place like I've done since pretty much day 1. Small change from last week to this...gotta get better ya know. Ended up with an even 2. Nowhere near where I'm going to be in a year, but now I've got this benchmark.
I'm sure there is more that I want to say, but it's getting late and I've got a few more work things to do. #workhardplayhard
Actually, there is one more story to share.... Ever since I started traveling for work, I'd been worried that I'd end up sitting next to a dick on a plane. Someone that would give me shit for my size. 3+ years in, it FINALLY happened. I might write it out more later...but 40lbs into this journey, and 3 years after I've started traveling, I finally had to deal with one of those people... Ask me about it when you see me.
First, my WODs have been suffering, since I last wrote. I only did one WOD, and it was the Lurong WOD.... not only that, but I didn't finish the WOD, tweaked my knee. meh! The quick and dirty is this, wod was 1, 1, then 2, 2, then 3, 3...etc. Squat cleans and then jumping pullups. The cleans were at 55lbs. WAY too light for me, I'm going to start mixing and matching. Squat cleaning essentially a barbell just doesn't work for me. Moving on...
Paleo eating has been dismal. I've had sodas, I've had bread/grain products... it's been a mess. I'm home this week, and I've got salads and veggies galore. Should be able to fix this sooner than later.
It's late (1am), been busy today... trying to get something out here, bear with me.
Tonight's WOD was great... AND I thought I hit a PR....again. This stupid squat clean man. I'm now convinced that the 145 I hit last week was a PR, and that what I had written down was wrong. We worked towards heavy squat clean tonight here at EST. I worked my way up to 45 on each end of the bar, then put on 5 more on each side. In my head, this makes it 155... quick math will tell you that I'm wrong... it's only 145. But I'm like yeah, this is it, this is going to be a PR at 155... I hit it. I'm excited, like yeah, let me add more. So I trade out the 25# on there in the form of two 10's and a 5, and put on a 25. COMPLETELY forgot to add to it. So now there are 2 25's on each side of the bar. I get it, and I get excited again... but the weight hasn't actually changed.... I didn't really figure this out till I was done lifting, had one of those "hey wait a minute..." convos with myself. Sooner or later I'm going to get this stupid 1RM of 155 that I think I keep hitting. CFDS, wanna make that happen Tues or Wed next week? Let me know!
The rest of this WOD was a simple capacity test. One I've someone managed to miss any time it's been around. 5 min AMRAP of 5 squat cleans, 10 bar over burpees. This was challenging after doing squat cleans. I didn't do the RX of 135, I went with 95, and my legs still complained about the weight. Sissy! Anyway, 5 minutes was both an eternity and super quick. I actually did move over the bar rather than stay in place like I've done since pretty much day 1. Small change from last week to this...gotta get better ya know. Ended up with an even 2. Nowhere near where I'm going to be in a year, but now I've got this benchmark.
I'm sure there is more that I want to say, but it's getting late and I've got a few more work things to do. #workhardplayhard
Actually, there is one more story to share.... Ever since I started traveling for work, I'd been worried that I'd end up sitting next to a dick on a plane. Someone that would give me shit for my size. 3+ years in, it FINALLY happened. I might write it out more later...but 40lbs into this journey, and 3 years after I've started traveling, I finally had to deal with one of those people... Ask me about it when you see me.
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